NSSF 2021 Sales Survey

Firearm industry trade association National Shooting Sports Foundation conducted a survey of firearm retailers and found a huge number of Americans became first-time gun owners in 2021. Based on their survey of retail data, over 3.2 Americans purchased a firearm for the first time during the first half of 2021. NSSF conducted the survey to learn the buying habits and factors of recent firearm purchasers during the first six months of 2021.

Retailers that responded indicated that 33.2 percent of their customers, or 3,247,351 of gun buyers, purchased a firearm for the first time, based on June’s total of nearly 9.8 million background checks for a gun sale. "This survey shows that there is a continuing demand signal for firearms from the American public," said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. "We witnessed each month background check figures associated with a gun sale that are second only to those we saw in last year’s record-breaking totals.

These survey results show not only is there a strong and healthy appetite from first-time gun buyers but that there is still room to grow.

We are encouraged by the sustained interest in lawful and responsible gun ownership as well as by the manufacturing base which has been challenged to meet this remarkable demand." Survey results showed that in the first six months of 2021 over 90 percent of retailers reported an increase of African American men purchasing firearms with nearly 87 percent of retailers reporting an increase of African American women purchasing firearms.

Nearly 84 percent of retailers reported an increase of Hispanic American men purchasing firearms with over 87 percent reporting an increase of Hispanic American women purchasing firearms. Similarly, over 76.5 percent of retailers reported an increase of Asian American men purchasing firearms with over 82 percent of them showing an increase of Asian American women purchasing firearms.

Survey results show 44.5 percent of the first-time gun buyers in 2021 were under 40. 45.7 percent of these new gun owners asked for information on safety training and 23.6 percent signed up for some form of training with their new firearm. 22.1 percent of customers purchased a second firearm since their initial purchase.