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Background checks, a measure of gun sales, hit an all-time high in 2020, and nearly half of purchases made this year are by first-time gun owners, said Thursday gunmaker Smith & Wesson.
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To date, nearly 8 million Americans have already decided “to exercise their Second Amendment rights for the first time,” chief executive Mark Smith told analysts on an earnings call.
CYBER MONDAY GUN BACKGROUND CHECKS SPIKE 65% OVER A YEAR
For its findings, the company cited data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which estimated that 40% of the tens of thousands of gun purchases in 2020 came from new owners.
Smith noted that these new purchases further “expand and diversify” its consumer base and are an indicator of the long-term vitality of the industry as a whole.
Smith said data from the NSSF indicated that “women make up 40% of new buyers and African-American gun purchases outpaced all other demographics with a 58% growth in the first. semester of the year only until June “.
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“This expanded consumer base of new gun owners represents a healthy long-term opportunity for the industry as a whole, but specifically for Smith & Wesson,” he added.
Overall, however, this has been a historic year for gun purchases with over 19 million gun background checks to date. That’s more than the whole of 2012 and each of the previous years.
For Cyber Monday alone, 123,797 background checks were completed. Monday’s figures were up 65.2% from 2019, when 74,926 background checks were submitted, according to statistics from the Gun Trade Group, based on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS ) of the FBI.
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Background checks are the primary barometer of gun sales, but the FBI’s monthly figures also incorporate checks of the licenses that some states require to carry a firearm. Each background check could also relate to the sale of multiple firearms.
Gun sales have traditionally increased during presidential election years, fueled by fears among gun owners that the next president may restrict their rights. But this year has seen a series of unprecedented numbers largely associated with the coronavirus pandemic, a subsequent economic recession, a deep political divide and civil unrest.
In June, 3.9 million background checks were performed, the highest number since the system’s inception in November 1998 to ensure that criminals and other prohibited people could not buy or own a firearm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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