In March 2020, with the first pandemic-related lockdowns sweeping the country, Americans were directed to hunker down in their homes. That month, they went on the biggest gun-buying spree in the country’s history.
The number of estimated gun sales skyrocketed by 80%, topping 2.3 million in a single month for the first time, according to a data analysis from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearm industry’s trade group. Gun sales brushed against that monthly peak several times over the next year.
No one knows the true number of gun sales, which aren’t tracked by any agency. The automated background checks required to buy guns or apply for concealed handgun permits offer the closest proxy, though researchers and groups like the NSSF adjust them in an attempt to distinguish between sales and license applications, or to account for the fact that a customer can buy multiple firearms with one check.
More than two years later, with the worst of the pandemic long over,…
