US Gun Sales Chart
Courtesy TheTrace.org
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US Gun Sales Chart
Courtesy TheTrace.org

Our friends who run Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitprop generation operation, TheTrace.org, have introduced a new tool to illustrate the current gun sales surge and put in in perspective historically. They say they’re cobbling together their numbers using data from Small Arms Analytics along with the noted firearms experts at BuzzFeed News and the New York Times.

But the real number of gun sold is far higher. As the The Trace acknowledges . . .

The estimates undercount firearm sales due to state-level permit laws. Some states require prospective handgun buyers to obtain purchase permits, which then exempt them from background checks at the point of sale. Many other states issue some form of permit, such as concealed weapons permits, that exempt bearers from NICS background check requirements. Because some buyers in these states receive permit checks in lieu of transfer checks, our estimates do not account for those sales.

Hawaii, which requires gun buyers to obtain purchase permits, does not report any NICS transfer checks.

Keep in mind that The Trace’s hoplophobic drones report these numbers with an implicit “tsk-tsk” and a derisive shake of their collective heads. They see all of the gun Americans have been buying since March as a symptoms of America’s inherent violence, racism, white supremacy, toxic masculinity, and deplorables’ disturbing insurrectionist tendencies.

But one man’s or woman’s dangerous data points is another’s sign of hope. As the country adds millions of new, first-time gun owners every month, with no sign of stopping any time soon, those of us who value the right to keep and bear arms and see it has part of a healthy society can celebrate at least one leading indicator moving in the right direction.

The Trace helpfully provides charts for each state with historic data breaking out handgun and long gun sales. So click over and see what your state has done since the beginning of the millenium.

Here’s the sales numbers by state they provide for July:

July, 2020 Gun Sales by State (according to thetrace.com)
Handguns Long Guns Total
Alabama 51,417 26,018 77,434
Alaska 6,028 5,224 11,252
Arizona 44,493 21,304 65,797
Arkansas 18,646 13,814 32,460
California 88,209 47,795 136,004
Colorado 39,414 23,630 63,044
Connecticut 8,202 2,632 10,834
Delaware 5,896 3,308 9,204
District of Columbia 323 323
Florida 140,917 58,272 199,189
Georgia 62,510 29,844 92,354
Hawaii
Idaho 12,245 10,129 22,374
Illinois 45,731 19,825 65,556
Indiana 48,823 26,182 75,005
Iowa 441 5,279 5,720
Kansas 15,144 10,471 25,615
Kentucky 31,359 20,081 51,440
Louisiana 33,194 21,780 54,974
Maine 7,455 6,754 14,209
Maryland 9,302 13,532 22,834
Massachusetts 8,729 4,970 13,699
Michigan 63,129 39,341 102,470
Minnesota 26,481 20,318 46,799
Mississippi 29,475 17,914 47,390
Missouri 46,267 28,944 75,212
Montana 7,156 7,526 14,683
Nebraska 188 3,681 3,870
Nevada 16,680 6,542 23,222
New Hampshire 10,826 5,557 16,383
New Jersey 8,555 8,705 17,260
New Mexico 13,481 7,761 21,242
New York 15,637 41,505 57,142
North Carolina 4,083 34,907 38,990
North Dakota 4,101 4,514 8,614
Ohio 69,773 33,042 102,815
Oklahoma 29,179 18,657 47,836
Oregon 30,398 17,542 47,940
Pennsylvania 101,888 34,025 135,913
Puerto Rico 2,753 327 3,081
Rhode Island 3,576 2,238 5,814
South Carolina 34,201 15,603 49,804
South Dakota 5,305 5,494 10,799
Tennessee 55,987 32,377 88,364
Texas 142,281 70,055 212,336
Utah 12,472 8,833 21,305
Vermont 3,513 2,977 6,490
Virginia 55,857 29,284 85,141
Washington 46,991 20,140 67,132
West Virginia 14,485 11,730 26,215
Wisconsin 39,282 21,548 60,830
Wyoming 4,602 4,282 8,884
1,577,080 926,213 2,503,297

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82 COMMENTS

    • Since Gun Control is rooted in racism and genocide it is imperative for law abiding gun owners to keep track on z mini fuhrer mike bloomberg. We cannot allow such a deranged Gun Control Zealot to run around willy nilly promoting what is a racist and nazi based agenda. Stop z insane mini fuhrer mike bloomberg and his ilk in Nov. VOTE…

      TRUMP/PENCE 2020.

      • Oligarchs like Bloomberg don’t care about words like racism or genocide. They are just propaganda tools that they use to control the rest of us.

    • North Carolina has a 10:1 ratio from LongGuns to Handguns and unlike any other state with similar total volumes.

      Not buying it. But of coarse why whould we even entertain thinking that something from Bloomburg is correct or honest?

      Lastly, as an engineer, the choice of graphs suck.

    • It’s kind of a cool graphic representation.

      More guns in Americans hands are generally good. I am fascinated to see that handgun sales have far outstripped rifle and shotgun sales for years now. That kind of surprises me. I have a similar number of handguns and rifles, but throwing in shotguns, the long guns would outnumber the handguns.

      • That fits in with the view of “gun culture” (whatever that means, if anything) shifting from emphasizing hunting, to self-defense.

        • There are several different reasons for owning guns, and most of us are motivated by several of them.

          1.Defense – carry
          2.Defense – home
          3.Defense – animal/wildlife
          4 Hunting – rifle based
          5.Hunting – shotgun based
          6.Plinking/recreational
          7.Civil defense / homeland security
          8.Pest/varmint control, livestock protection
          9.Competitive sport
          10.Collecting
          More?

          Personally, my motivations include 1,2,6,7,8, and 10. Therefore I have a variety of firearms. Plinking is what got me started, so I’m pretty heavily invested in .22lr.

          Nearly every gun owner should have at least a pistol, defensive carbine, and a .22 rifle. Add a shotgun and a full power rifle, and the basics are covered.

  1. Wow Florida is really packing the handguns, just behind Texas. Need to up our rifle game. It is hard to find a lot of good outdoor range options in Florida, near the cities a lot of times indoor shooting is the most available option. Being so humid and hot outside for the majority of the year doesn’t help either.

    • Oxidization is standard issue, no special dispensation required. I swear sometimes if you stood around a couple of minutes, one could watch the rust flowers bloom.

    • Not to worry, I just (really 5 minutes ago) placed an order for another lower complete build kit, however it won’t show up on anyone’s registration list…. 80% receiver w/jig and bits, parts kit, adj stock and buffer tube kit and as always a Hogue rubberized grip (for my delicate old hands)…

      • Did you pay with a credit card? If so, record exists. Maybe not in the traditional sense, but it can still be traced back to you.

        • Only use prepaid cards (bought with cash) online, never expose personal financial instruments to the internet..

  2. What’s interesting are the places where more long guns than handguns were sold. New York, for example, saw almost 3 times more long guns than handguns sold.

    Is this people fearing the organized and systemic discrimination against black guns, and grasping for black gun achievement while they still can?

    • My guess is New York’s laws against handguns are more severe than their laws against long guns. So buying long guns is easier for people there?

      • Outside of NYC it is like anywhere in the country except we have a worse version of the assault weapon ban in place.

    • Buying a handgun in NY is a pain. You purchase the gun at the dealer, he gives you bill of sale, you bring the bill of sale to the county clerk and apply for a pistol permit amendment, the clerk passes your amendment to a judge, the judge takes anywhere from 2 weeks to several months to sign the amendment, then you take the amendment back to the dealer, do a background check and get the gun. All this is only after you got a NYS pistol permit which took anywhere from 6 to 12 months. So buying a pistol is out of the question for “first time” gun buyers in NY

    • If I recall correctly, in New York State you have to get a license to own a handgun (I’m not sure if long guns require a license though), and I’m guessing some people don’t have the time or resources to get one.

      • Only in NYC for long guns and each county has different rules for handgun licence. Over all it’s mostly a delay and increased cost unless you are in NYC or Albany in which case it can get into political and/or bribery issues. With that said not sure how it works west of Herkimer county so will let anyone in central/southern tier/ western NY answer that one.

    • Nope just need a permit (that ranges from annoying delay to how much can you afford for campaign contributions) to own, purchase, or generally handle a pistol in NY. Long guns you can get without a permit….. unless you are under New York City jurisdiction then you need a permit for long guns as well.

  3. Every time I see charts like this from people who want to take our guns, I’m glad I made some of my own (80%’ers). Have fun trying to quantify that portion of the gun community, Bloomie.

    • Tried lately to find Glock Gen 3 parts in stock, one part in particular a Gen 5 G 19 X trigger mech. housing, just for the ejector out of the housing. Of course with that part it could be going into any Gen 3 or 4,to cure ejection faults.
      All those parts are going somewhere and my best guess it isn’t in exhisting Glocks .

      • ‘I Haz To Call Out Humble Bragging ‘ (or is it All Hail?)

        Do not dare to question Haz The Magnificent. He has exercised great foresight and wisdom to assemble his own guns from 80 percent lowers, and is an example to us all. He lives underneath the radar of Big Brother and beckons us to a better place. You, madam, are simply envious of his superior ability to navigate this dream we call Life.

        Haz, sir, pay no mind to her mealy words, and kindly continue on with your day.

    • Haz, just a piece of advice( take as you wish it’s a free country for now) don’t rub bloomberg’s nose in the fact that you can produce your own .. custom… AR. He’s got enough money to buy legislation to stop us. Offered as a friend not a critic.

  4. They will always have the theory that there is more crime in a particular area because more guns have been sold there when in reality it’s the fact that crime is bad in that area so people bought more guns for defense. Putting the cart before the horse.

    • Ed. to the uninformed know nothing voters the way a story is told makes a difference, in that they don’t know any better so they will believe whatever is on the six oclock news.

  5. I believe that the numbers would be substantially higher if there was actually stock available… I helped a ex co-worker pick out his first defensive gun, and there wasn’t anything in stock and “3 to 5 week” backorder took just shy of 2 months to fill.

    • No question. I’ve been looking for some things that are not available for a couple months. Makes me glad that I went on a tear in Nov.-Feb. Well worth the chin music I caught from my better half. Now even she’s glad I acquired all that stuff before this stuff.

  6. And to think. How much larger these numbers would have been if most store shelves weren’t empty in July. I’m waiting to add a couple new options to may collection simply due to the fact. They can’t be found right now. Not that I really need them but, as a self confessed Gunaholic. 1 more is to many and 10 more is not enough. Be Safe Out There, Maintain OPSEC and as always Keep Your Powder Dry.

    • I’ve been waiting for months to buy a Christensen Arms Ranger 22, but there have been distributing delays. My second option, a CZ 457 varminter is also a no-seeum.

  7. Oddly enough, I think they have a pretty good handle on the sales numbers. I’ts just a gut feeling, but their numbers are probably better than most I’ve seen. I’d feel better if one of their sources was NSSF instead of BuzzFeed, but then the recent NSSF report on firearm sales numbers by make and model had everyone raise an eyebrow.

    • NSSF? The same guys that said the most sold semi auto used rifle is the M1 Garand?

      Or that the TEC9 is an AR pistol?

      Not good when the Trace might have more data credibility than the NSSF…

      • NSSF lost any creditability after they pushed for Red Flag laws and with that last article they published, who cares what they have to say anymore.

    • I don’t know if I believe that there was only 188 handguns sold in Nebraska. Hell, even DC with zero FFLs has almost twice as much.

      • I’m with you on that… rifles outsold handguns 20 to 1 in Nebraska? I think someone dropped a digit.

        And no one in DC bought a long gun? Although… someone in DC can drive to Virginia and legally buy a long gun, I think. So why would they buy one from outside DC and have it shipped to the police who charge who knows what for a transfer fee. Remember, there are no gun stores in DC. The only FFL who did transfers (in a room at the police station) quit, so the police are functioning as the only FFL in DC.

      • “I don’t know if I believe that there was only 188 handguns sold in Nebraska.”

        I can’t speak for Nebraska, but Iowa is one of those states that does not require or use a NICS check when the purchaser displays either a Permit to Acquire Pistols and Revolvers or a Concealed Carry Permit when attempting to buy any firearm. Therefore, the 441 total of handguns sold in Iowa during July 2020 is certainly much lower than actual. I would also conclude that a fair number of those purchasing long arms might not possess either permit and are therefor run through NICS at the point of purchase.

        The article points out this “discrepancy” clearly but a lot of the people around this site seem unable to either read the entire article with any sense of understanding the data or just want to hype in their own comments.

    • Texas only beat FL with REGISTERED numbers, I know personally of over 100 80% builds over the past month and if I know that many then how many are there in the entire state.. No matter, it’s just a number, DON’T stop now…

        • No kidding.
          The site I get email notifications from sold out before I could make up my mind.
          I was hesitant, because parts for those are scarce too.

        • Tom
          Check out Rockey Brass they seem to get shipments regularly and they don’t ask MSRP for their products.

        • I’ve got an even dozen extra myself, don’t know I’ll ever get around to building them all. Some choice stuff to, including a couple of authentic Radom 80’s. Not as rare as they used to be unfortunately, passing on Recreator & Childers for those when they came up for sale.

          One is for a full Radom build. The other is awaiting Tromix’s availability of a .458 conversion, this one’s first on the list. Grab that, Bloom-ing idiot…

  8. Wonder if these numbers as well as the increasing ownership numbers in Bastions of Liberal control. Are secretly depressing to the Gun Grabber Zealots. They would never admit it. Just knowing they may be loosing the battle for at least another election cycle. I find it humorous that different faction of the Liberal democrat party. Are using their separate agendas to defeat each other. The BLM/Antifa movement is out to Defund/Eliminate the Police. Through the use of violence. Which strikes fear into citizens. Who have never owned a firearm. To consider buying or buying one for the first time. While the Gun Grabber faction works to instill fear by claiming firearms are the great Evil and must be Controlled/Eliminated from Society. What once was one of the strongest elements of the Liberal democrat party. Divide and Conquer through Fear. Has become the greatest tool in their defeat. Their own Factions working to eliminate each other. With the use of Fear.

  9. You know what? They are correct about the numbers being low due to state level permits. Thinking about it, in the last ten years I’ve bought at least ten firearms with no NICS run. Show the FFL my permit, fill out the ATF’s “We know who you are” form, and pay the man. Done deal, no submittal for approval.

    Would interesting to see these numbers presented as per capita of population.

    I expect Forida Man is a major factor in that state. 😉

    • “You know what? They are correct about the numbers being low due to state level permits.” This, as I commented above, is a point that a large number of readers/posters seem to be missing. It also doesn’t account for private sales, which I’ll bet are up quite a bit as well. At least there are two of us who get it…

  10. Were number 1! 😉 A few years ago Texans weren’t buying as many guns during the Hillary panic because most Texans who wanted guns already had theirs. Now I think a lot of people who were not gun owners at all are seeing the riots and even liberals are buying guns.

  11. I don’t look to Michael Bloomturd or his organizations for the answerers to anything,they as a Marxist propaganda pushers are antithetical to the Constitution and thus this nations continued existence.

  12. Proud to seem my adopted home state of PA coming in 4th behind TX, FL, and just squeaking under CA.

    Haz is probable right though; the ‘roll your own’ folk would likely add substantially to the totals.

    • My new ARs sure don’t show on any stats.
      Several of my friends built their own as well, using my tools and advice.

    • Of all those in my circle who own ARs, they/we have a sum total among us of at least fifteen that I know of, and of those, only a single one was factory purchased. All the others are milled and assembled at home, and only one of those was registered (because it had to be due to the chose AW config). So out of those 15, TPTB only see two(!) on their registration radar. And that’s only my circle of friends, and only ARs. We’re not even counting P80s and other new DIY lowers now available. Imagine all the guns existing in privacy across the country.

  13. I wonder how many of those are Millennials? Seems the numbers started going up slowly as Millennials turned 18/21. Right around the time COD got popular too.

    Rifles are now becoming popular with first time gun owners. I am seeing a lot more people walking around openly carrying rifles at protests, though Republicans hate open carry and rifle carry.

    If protesters can openly carrying a long gun often, the younger generations will not see a difference like the older generations do. A gun is a gun. The older people hate seeing Americans carrying an AK or AR in public. The Millennials love to carry “assault weapons” like rifles and some really want a sword. Doesn’t matter to me if they were influenced by COD or Japanese culture, it normalizes something the older generations hate.

    I remember all those old people posting videos making fun of open carriers and long gun carriers. A lot of them also yelled at people for being big-stupid-idiot-poopy-heads for buying rifles and carrying them. Right now when a Millennial sees protesters masked up and carrying an “assault rifle” they don’t call the cops like their parents would and they march alongside them without having a panic attack like their mom would.

    Even after the (Libertarian) Garrett Foster was killed the older generations said he was a moron to carry an AK and he should have never carried at a protest nor should anyone else. I don’t see why a rifle is any different than a pistol. A bullet is a bullet, dead is dead.

    I say carry more long guns at protests to lead by example and show America that you can yell and be upset while protesting with a big black gun yet be peaceable. Having a gun doesn’t make you violent and it’s not necessarily an implied threat by simply carrying it. Obviously the cops hate when protesters have guns because they can’t assault Americans so easily and they have to go pick on the weak to show their dominance on society.

    • “The Right To Keep And Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed”

      Open or concealed makes no difference, if you take the 2 nd. amendment on face value.

    • You just can’t help yourself. A gratuitous pot shotter and hyperbolist.

      “though Republicans hate open carry and rifle carry.”

      As opposed to who, Democrats, who love open carry? Not…

      Most people don’t like open carry with long guns, that may be wrong, but is not party specific. And, in all likelihood, acceptance of it is likely higher amongst Republicans than Democrats.

  14. California is doing pretty good, maybe there’s hope that our state will turn republican again. I assume these numbers are due in part to the fact that people finally realized the cops were the bad guys all along. They’re worse than useless, to call them stupid would be an insult to stupid people. Three months of protests every night in Portland, you don’t think that message is going around? You know the old saying, a liberal is just a conservative who hasn’t been mugged yet. Next time you need to call 911, just deal with it yourself and tell them to send an ambulance.

    • @ACAB

      The older generations want you to “just call the cops” and file insurance claims. They don’t want you to be a “vigilante” because we got a police state for you to call now. They believe the right to self defense is not necessary unless you are about to die that second. They argue property crimes are not worth a criminal’s life.

      Like I am going to call the cops to find my stolen car so they can get excited to chase after the criminal and destroy my property to have their fun time chasing the ball like a bunch of dogs. You never hear people say — during a police chase of a stolen vehicle — the cops are stupid for damaging the victim’s property knowing the victim cares more about their car than catching the criminal and padding stats for a promotion.

      It’s easy to turn a young Democrat into a Republican if the Republican party actually lived by their marketing. Right now a lot of people I know are thinking of shifting to Democrat this election although they consider themselves conservative because they think Republicans are ignoring the issues while complaining about the problems. I guess they thought they could make the Republicans live by their words but realized that’s not happening until they lose everything first. It would be easier to create huge change by making Democrats actually do some of the stuff they are pretending to support.

      If Democrats actually got rid of police that would be doing the opposite of what they have been working towards all this time. They can’t have communism without police/military to enforce the rules. Someone has to march in and seize all the private property from the people. Getting rid of departments is a Republican thing, well, it used to be. So if Democrats want to start getting rid of departments and advocate for home schooling…

      After Trump the two parties have flipped in some regards.

      Democrats are now calling for getting rid of the anti constitutional police departments, home schooling over public schooling, private property rights of business owners, open carrying of guns ans so on. They are calling for community policing and less non victim laws. They are now calling out gun control and Planned Parenthood as being systemic racism/white supremacy.

      Fascinating how quick things change and how few Americans have a long term memory.

      • The older generations want you to “just call the cops” and file insurance claims. They don’t want you to be a “vigilante” because we got a police state for you to call now.

        Who the fuck made you the spokesperson for the “Older Generations”? Have you become clairvoyant as well as braindead? I AM the older generation and I can assure you the only 911 call I will make concerning a property crime (or any other for that matter) will be post mortem for the transgressor….

        OBTW these are YOUR words earlier this year, must have had an “old man” moment…
        “Guns are becoming less commonly used in society as the size of the police forces grows because people don’t feel the need for such tools. You don’t need 5.56, you only need 9-1-1.”

        • @MADDMAXX

          Less commonly used…

          After a pandemic, a country wide riot, police saying they will not do their jobs because people are mad at them, and the youth calling for defunding the police, Americans started buying a lot of guns. They now feel the need to have guns, hence why most of them are first time gun owners.

          The world doesn’t stay frozen in time.

          The calls for decreasing the police force resulted in more guns sales? Wow… It’s like when 911 isn’t there people feel the need for 5.56? So that would mean my observation has been proven factual: Less police equals more gun ownership.

          By the way, Ammon Bundy agrees with the black lives matter protesters. I don’t know why this wasn’t a story.

        • my observation has been proven factual: Less police equals more gun ownership.

          That is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what YOU said (quote) ” You don’t need 5.56, you only need 9-1-1.”… I thought opposite day was on Junly 33rd…

    • “maybe there’s hope that our state will turn republican again.”

      Sure, and Mexico will adopt English as its official language.

      • and Mexico will adopt English as its official language

        It COULD happen.. Of course that would require the obligatory “ice age in Hell” but it COULD happen (talking about an English speaking Mexico, NO fucking way will Kommiefornia EVER be red)… 23 times in 42 presidential elections Ca. voted Rep (5 times for Ca candidates, Nixon 3 times Reagan twice) 1 time Progressive (Roosevelt 1912) the last time was 1988 (Bush 41) and blue is a pretty safe bet for 2020 AND the foreseeable future.. (Fl and Tx will go blue before Ca goes red..)

  15. “noted firearms experts at BuzzFeed News and the New York Times”.

    I’d love to meet these “experts”.

  16. “They see all of the gun Americans have been buying since March as a symptoms of America’s inherent violence, racism, white supremacy, toxic masculinity, and deplorables’ disturbing insurrectionist tendencies.”

    You reminded me of something. Before March, it was just toxic masculine and penis envy. You don’t hear that much any more. Now instead the insults thrown at gun owners are all about inherent toxic racism and white privilege. But I guess it doesn’t matter much: we are toxic no matter what we do, unless we run off and engage in racial suicide.

    • Yep, you just have to quit caring what they call you. It has about as much weight as a post by Chief Dumfuq.

    • He’s a recent graduate of the “re-education” system… Guess it really does work on a weak mind and no one EVER accused Mr. Bundy of being the brightest bulb in the box…. I mean it doesn’t take a whole basketful of brain cells to throw down on a handful of Feds…

  17. Gun Grabbers should know we have many more guns than the whole Universe in America & any Attempt to take guns would not go over well for them….if they could even find 1 politician ready to go door to door!

    I bet there is not 1 politician that would show up….

  18. Given what half a billion dollars supposedly could have bought in the way of ‘experts’ for Bloomberg’s disastrous presidential bid, I’m not convinced they got this right either.

  19. I’d like to see what the increase in stamp purchases be like. That’s how you tell who’s not fucken around. Not by who buys any ol gun from dick’s. Either way, today, you can add 1 person who acquired 3 to that list. Only took 6 months… The ATF moves… fast?

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