The bad news for America’s gun control community just keeps on coming. After sales skyrocketed to almost 2.6 million firearms in March, April’s total was 1.8 million units, a 71% increase over the year-ago total.
From Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting:
Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting (SAAF) estimates April 2020 U.S. firearms unit sales at 1,797,910 units, a year-over-year increase of 71.3% from April 2019. Likely single handgun sales (1,085,046) increased year-over-year by 83.1% whereas single long-gun sales (560,353) increased year-over-year by 51.7%. All other likely background check-related sales (152,512) increased year-over-year by 74.6%. This includes so-called “multiple” sales where the allocation between handguns and long-guns cannot be determined from the data record.
Once again, the majority of buyers are opting for handguns as a significant percentage of sales are going to first-time gun buyers.
SAAF Chief Economist Jurgen Brauer comments that “once more, the spurt in firearms sales in April 2020 is particularly notable for its handgun component: The ratio of handguns to long-guns sold now stands at a new record of 1.94, breaking the previous high of 1.84 set just one month ago.”
The SAAF puts the total number of firearms sold in the US at just over 7 million so far this year. That compares to 4.6 million in the first four months of 2019.
Neither Michael Bloomberg, Shannon Watts, or John Feinblatt could be reached for comment.