This summer, NSSF surveyed firearm retailers, which in August reported that 40 percent of sales were conducted to purchasers who have never previously owned a firearm. NSSF-adjusted NICS checks for January through July 2020 saw a record 12.1 million, up 71.7 percent from the 7.1 million NSSF-adjusted NICS checks from January through July 2019. This equates to nearly five million first-time gun owners in the first seven months of 2020.
NSSF surveys revealed that 58 percent of firearm purchases were among African-American men and women, the largest increase of any demographic group. Women made up 40 percent of first-time gun purchasers. Retailers noted that they were seeing a 95 percent increase in firearm sales and a 139 percent increase in ammunition sales over the same period in 2019.
