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 | |