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October 06, 2020
By Mark Chesnut
With the election quickly approaching, U.S. gun sales are continuing on the record pace of the last several months.
Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF ), said the NSSF’s September 2020 adjusted NICS figure is 1.6 million, a whopping 61 percent increase over September 2019.
“This elevated trend is in keeping with what the firearm industry has witnessed since March, when adjusted NICS figures topped 2.3 million, an all-time one-month record,” Oliva said. “Since then, NICS figures have been between 1.6 and 2.1 million.”
If sales continue at this pace for the remaining three months, it’s quite possible U.S. gun sales could set a new record for the most guns ever sold in a single year since records have been kept.
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‘At this pace, it is possible we could witness more than 20 million background checks for the sale of a firearm in 2020, widely eclipsing the strongest year on record of 2016, when 15.7 million background checks were conducted for the sale of firearm,” Oliva said.
Incredibly, the sales numbers likely could have been even higher had gun manufactures anticipated the drastic increase in demand.
“This indicates that there is a continued desire for Americans to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Oliva said. “It is plausible that this number could actually have been higher, but inventory is low due to months of sustained high demand. This has been a year unlike any other, where law-abiding Americans are seeing for themselves the need to be able to protect themselves and their family.”
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Oliva added that 2020 being a presidential election year has likely also had an effect on the demand and corresponding record gun sales.
“Background checks for firearm sales typically rise during election years in response to threats of gun control,” he concluded. “Voters are faced with a choice unlike any other. On one hand is a candidate who has stood for preserving Second Amendment rights. On the other, is a candidate who is on the record for backing forcible confiscation of lawfully owned firearms. The biggest threat to Second Amendment rights today is Joe Biden, and gun buyers are reacting to that threat.”
Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for the past 20 years.
