By Dan Zimmerman via TTAG
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.