When Trump won the election, most people believed that the Obama inspired boom in gun sales was over. Early gun sales statistics in 2017 seemed to support that theory. Now the final numbers are in and it turns out early speculation was incorrect. 2017 was a fantastic year for gun sales.Paul Bedard reports at the Washington Examiner:
2017 gun sales surprise: Second best ever, 25 million, more ‘socially acceptable’The long predicted crash of the gun market following President Trump’s election victory over gun-banner Hillary Rodham Clinton never showed up and 2017 became the second highest year of sales after 2016, the FBI reported Wednesday.According to the agency, there were 25,235,215 gun background checks conducted in 2017, and many in the industry say the National Instant Criminal Background Check System is the best gauge of sales.Only 2016 was better since the system began in 1998. More than 27.5 million background checks were recorded last year.The year of gun sales surprised many especially in May and August when monthly sales records were set. December was the top month with 2,586,138 checks taking place.
Tom Knighton of Bearing Arms has more on this:
2017 Second Busiest Gun Buying Year On RecordEarlier this year, there was a lot of talk of a Trump Slump, a drop in gun sales because there’s no longer a fear of more gun control. Those concerns have been thoroughly debunked over the course of the year, but the perception still persists in some circles.Well, maybe the fact that 2017 was the second-best year for gun sales will finally kill it.
2017 saw the second-most gun-related FBI background checks on record, a report released on Wednesday showed.The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) conducted 25,235,215 checks last year. That’s nearly 2.3 million checks fewer than the record-breaking year of 2016 but also nearly 2.1 million checks more than 2015, the third-best year on record.The number of checks conducted by NICS is generally considered a leading indicator of how many gun sales have been processed in a given period of time in large part because nearly all sales—including all new gun sales—made through a federally licensed dealer must include a background check.
Numbers for 2017 seemed to get a significant boost on Black Friday.
Aaron Smith reported at CNN Money:
Black Friday was huge for gun salesGun sellers did brisk business on the biggest shopping day of the year, providing a respite from a year-long slump under the Trump administration.RTSP, a gun store and range in Randolph, New Jersey, surpassed last year’s Black Friday for sales, and that carried through the weekend for the store’s highest-grossing week since February, said Rick Friedman, the CEO.SharpShootersUSA, a gun store and range outside Atlanta, beat last year’s numbers and at a higher profit margin.”Our Black Friday was very good indeed,” said Tom Deets, the company president.Black Friday was the biggest day on record for FBI background checks, which loosely track nationwide gun sales. The FBI reported 203,000 background checks for gun sales on Friday.
In the end, the good news for gun makers and sellers is the same. It’s also a good sign that support for the Second Amendment is as strong as ever.
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