5.4 million Americans became first-time gun owners in 2021

The firearm buying frenzy continued into 2021 as nearly 5.5 million Americans became first-time gun owners, reports the Washington Examiner. Notably, sales expanded among women, black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans.

The president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Joe Bartozzi, said, “The surveys revealed that new gun owners are continuing to embrace their Second Amendment rights, and nearly half of them are seeking out professional training.”

He continued, “These trends show that not only is there still a strong interest in gun ownership but also that these new gun owners are interested in learning more about the safe and responsible handling, use, and storage of firearms.”

NSSF reported in its annual Firearm Retailer Survey that, in 2021, more than one-third of first-time gun buyers were women, 44% of firearm retailers saw an increase in sales to African-Americans, 40% saw an increase in sales to Hispanic Americans, and more than 27% increased sales to Asian Americans.

The survey also noted increased sales to Native Americans and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders.

2021 saw several consecutive months of record-breaking gun sales as political tensions continued to rise throughout the country and President Biden sought to ban private ownership of semi-automatic rifles — vowing to ban “assault-style weapons.”

In a town hall last July, President Biden reiterated his ambition to ban 9-millimeter handguns, rifles, and high-capacity magazines.

Biden said, “I’m the only guy that ever got passed legislation, when I was a senator, to make sure we eliminated assault weapons. The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon, whether it’s a 9-millimeter pistol or whether it’s a rifle is ridiculous. I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”

Few things drive people to buy guns like the fear that they might not be able to at some point in the near future. So, Biden reaffirming his commitment to banning some of the most popular guns, ironically, resulted in a substantial increase of firearm sales across the country.

Despite the political left’s perpetual insistence for gun control, some populist-leaning candidates on the other side of the political aisle have fully embraced the Second Amendment arguing that it ought to be protected.