According to The Sacramento Bee, citing data from The Trace, from March 2020 to April 2021 Californians purchased approximately 920,000 handguns compared to 555,000 in the prior 14 months. That’s a jump of nearly 66 percent.
In fact (again from the Sac Bee article):
Eight of the 12 months with the most California handgun sales since 2000 occurred during the pandemic.
Compared to the prior 14 months, there were an additional 365,000 handguns sold during the pandemic lockdowns. There were an additional 183,000 long guns sold during pandemic lockdowns compared to the prior 14 months.
Most Americans who bought a gun during the pandemic said they did so as a protection against crime, according to a recent survey by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern University.
There was also considerable fear about the future at the start of lockdowns. The same survey found that about 24% of Americans who bought a gun during the pandemic were first-time gun buyers.
Other studies and data have suggested that the percent of first-time buyers last year was even higher; often upwards of 40 percent. As just one example, this NSSF study suggests it was 40.2 percent.
While this is great to see in California, the U.S. as a whole saw an even larger bump in year-over-year handgun sales. Doing that same March 2020 through April 2021 and comparing it to the previous 14 months trick, the numbers are 16.5 million to 9.27 million. An increase of 78 percent.
December of 2015 set the pre-pandemic national record for handgun sales with approximately 1.011 million sold, but this record was absolutely crushed by June of 2020’s 1.734 million figure. In fact, 11 of 14 of those March 2020 through April 2021 months beat that 2015 record.
While I’m at it, I believe D.C. set the percentage growth record, jumping over 276 percent from a pre-pandemic record of 161 handguns sold in May 2019 to 606 in August 2020.
Another fun way to look at it for D.C.: January 2020 through May 2021 saw 5,619 handgun sales. January 2000 through December 2019 saw 7,792.
Welcome to the club, new gun owners!
Apparently, Haz has been out shopping……again.
🤣
Or maybe he’s trying to find the next Freedom Rally to skip out on like a coward.
EBA,
You are not helping to advance any conversation.
You are not promoting freedom.
You are not promoting the 2nd Amendment.
You are not forgiving.
You are not being kind.
You are not being funny.
I do not know what you are doing.
Life. He suffers from mental illness. Stalking and trolling on the webz is a major sign.
Ask fibbie what he did on 1/6. Bet you he won’t answer.
Actually, my friend, I’ve been gathering components to build more.
And before any of my CA neighbors get into a twist, I’ll be taking the parts with me into NV to assemble them with a friend at his house. Since I go to there often, I’ll likely leave them there (and therefore outside of the reach of Newsom and our new A.G. Bonta).
Diversification and hedging. Good for your financial portfolio. Good for your gun inventory.
And the Dem’s think they are going to outlaw guns!!
Never going to happen!
I thought you had to be a American citizen to buy a gun anywhere in the U S .
Guess I was wrong, Cali is supposedly all Mexican sick eagles,
Just saying.
“I thought you had to be a American citizen to buy a gun anywhere in the U S .“
Well no, as long as you continue to oppose background checks on private sales anyone can buy a gun in the US, regardless of nationality or citizenship.
Isn’t that your plan?
Well yes, as long as the alien is a Lawfully Admitted Permanent Resident (LAPR) who also meets all the other qualifications and restrictions on lawfully purchasing a firearm in the USA…whether they choose to purchase from a dealer or from a private individual is their choice.
Misdirection and half-truths isn’t that your plan?
And they continue to vote for politicians who hate them!
Well actually you leave Los Angels and San Francisco and it is MAGA country.
Even the liberal hippies in Santa Cruz love their weed and their guns.
I know we have only begun the journey on the Assault weapons ban, but it looks like SCOTUS is starting to stretch its conservative legs.
I am hoping the court of appeals agrees with the judge and forces an en banc. If that happens we could go to SCOTUS.
It’s easy to forget that Cali probably has more conservative voters than any other state. That’s why the Left is so invested in flooding the country with immigrants. They want to California the rest of the country. Prominent C*** Paul Ryan is still taking victory laps for cutting taxes instead of fixing the legal and illegal immigration problems when he had the chance. Regan could have fixed the problem as well. Have people figured out that Republicans don’t want to fix the problem, just like the Democrats? It’s only a problem for the lower and middle classes. It’s a boon for big business.
Lot of the country figured it out and is primary booting accordingly. Problem is it takes time and constant pressure but the last few years have left some lasting impressions.
It is not conservative or liberal, is is freedom loving. There are many people that identify with JFK Democrats. We want fiscal responsibility and also want to be able to protect ourselves from any threats that might come our way.
Just because I think that Americans should never go hungry or have to sleep rough, doesn’t mean I am anti-gun.
JFK would not be elected by today’s Democratic Party. He said nasty things like “Ask not what your Country can do for you, but what can you do for your Country”. He also had a tax plan that Republicans used as a model under Reagan. Today that is blasphemy for his old Party.
The JFK Democrat is long gone. Like so many other things. You can hold those ideals if you wish but things have changed. We are no longer living in that world.
“Just because I think that Americans should never go hungry or have to sleep rough, doesn’t mean I am anti-gun.“
Correct, and there are many more Democrats who feel this way. The propaganda myth of open borders and Marxist agenda is pervasive.
January 2000 through December 2019 saw 7,792 ?????
Yeah, handgun ownership was illegal in D.C. for the longest time and I’m not sure there was a single licensed gun dealer in the district. It’s possible all of those 7,8k were purchased from a dealer by law enforcement (e.g. most LEOs are allowed to use their own money to choose their own backup / off-duty carry gun, often from a department-approved list of models).
Think of how many more firearms would have been sold if California had more than the 818 variations-on-a-theme guns on their Nanny State “APPROVED” roster.
Those are for new guns brought into the state from manufacturers. Does not affect private party sales.
I don’t know beans about CA’s gun laws (except what I read here and on other blogs).
So, if I were to move to CA with handguns not currently on the roster I could legally transfer them to other CA residents?
Old Guy. I’m not a legal expert. But my understanding is that when you bring handguns in from out of state you have to register them with the ca doj.
You can transfer them but it has to be through an ffl with the background checks and waiting periods.
That’s how I believe it works.
RE new guns vs. private party, I’m fairly sure the numbers cited in this post only relate to new gun sales and OGiM’s point stands.
OGiM, yes, you can move to CA with guns not currently on the roster *as long as they don’t violate CA’s AWB laws or mag capacity laws* and, once they’re in-state and you’ve registered them, you can sell them private party (which, FYI, has to be done through a licensed dealer).
I should have read one more comment.
@Jeremy S and jwm
Thank you for your cogent answers.
Your answers only reinforce my decision to not EVER consider CA as a vaykay or relocation destination…there’s something about violating their AWB laws, mag capacity laws, PRIVATE sales facilitated ONLY through an FFL (oxymoronic statement) and registration that turns me off from supporting their kleptocratic oligarchy.
I was at a Bass Pro Shop today in CA. Plenty of rifles and shotguns but only about half a dozen pistols. If I had no guns I would have bought a shorty shotgun and the one Glock they had in stock.
Fortunately gun and ammo shortages have no effect on me.
Ammo report? CA has got to be worse than the bluegrass.
Me neither, I’ve still got those three Remington Thunderbolt’s I found in the laundromat.
Possum
You interrupted the wash cycle to ‘find’ those gunms? Or were they already in the dryer?
Thunderbolt 22lr’s found them in the washer.
There was ammo there. But it was locked up behind the counter and I could not see what calibers and prices. I could see three 500 round bricks of .22.
There were no lines at the counter. And bear in mind that here in CA we can not mail order ammo. I stocked through mail order before the new laws hit. And every time I go to Utah I get a little more.
I’m going to NV in a few weeks, and UT next month. Might see what can be seen. 🙂
I have been buying 9mm when I can find it UNDER 58 cents a round. Chose that threshold because 60 cents is easy to find.
Have not gotten to the range, much, due to health issues at home ( not Wuhan-related), heavy demand at work, and some home improvements that are taking more time and money than planned (you just do not know what you will find when you open the walls of a hundred year- old home).
This summer, I hope to get back to the range once a month. Laser practice the rest of the time.
You can get some real surprises when you open a wall in a 20 year old house also.
@LifeSavor
Pray that your health issues are resolved soon. All I can offer regarding work is to try, as best you can, to balance work and home time. Home improvements are a whole new chapter in the Book of Life…my Dad once told me (when I was purchasing my first home) that you never really own a home – they own you (still beats renting someone else’s home equity).
As far as ammo, I’m seeing increased supplies trickling into my local stores. On Friday morning I lined up with the rest of the hopefuls at Murdoch’s to see what the truck had brought. 100 rnd boxes of Armscor 9mm 115gr for $40.99 ea – limit two…I purchased one for me and one for a shooting buddy who is still gainfully employed and could not be there. The employees were still stocking ammo shelves when the store opened. To make their lives a bit easier, they had one employee designated as the grab-and-give to people in line so that they could complete stocking without being in the center of a clusterflock. They had S&W 40, 9mm, 300 BO, 25-06, 30-06, 7.62 x 51, .22LR, 12 GA, 410 GA and a couple of other cartridges. No .45, 44, .38, or .357.
OG in M,
Thank you for the prayers. The health issues are with my wife…improving, but it will be another year or so. Again, thank you.
Work: I like what I do and they pay me well. Grateful that we have been busy. But, as you say, balance is how we survive and stay healthy.
Home repairs can be like mini vacations. Just stripped a couple of cabinets that had about a thousand layers of paint. Good wood under all of that. Rewarding.
Best wishes, my friend.
That old paint probably had lead in it. Keeps the rats from chewing holes in the cabinets to get to the food.
Man did you fck up.
Hmmm, spent the last 40 minutes or so looking up possums on the Interwebz.
Useful critters…snake eaters, tick scourges and research on their blood is yielding positive results on a “universal” snake antivenom which will (potentially) save thousands of human lives worldwide on an annual basis.
Certain sub-species are known to carry micro or snubby firearms in their “pouches”…use caution when harassing one in the wild.
Possum,
Lead paint…absolutely…but I have a good collection of lead remediation tools (like a vac certified by the EPA for lead abatement) and PPE. Necessary when you own an old home.
As for pests, no serious issues except for bats making into the house occasionally. I’ve gotten pretty good at snagging them mid-air with my fishing net.