Americans Have 423M Guns, And 8.1B Rounds Of Ammunition Were Produced Just Last Year

America’s love for guns isn’t slowing down anytime soon, as new data from the ATF shows.

In total, Americans own an estimated 423 Million firearms. Couple that with the industry producing 8.1 Billion rounds of ammunition, just last year alone, and it’s clear to see that support for the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership is strong.

“These figures show the industry that America has a strong desire to continue to purchase firearms for lawful purposes,” said Joe Bartozzi, president of the NSSF, in a statement releasing the group’s new report.

“The modern sporting rifle continues to be the most popular centerfire rifle sold in America today and is clearly a commonly owned firearm with more than 17 million in legal private ownership today. The continued popularity of handguns demonstrates a strong interest by Americans to protect themselves and their homes and to participate in the recreational shooting sports,” he said.

via washingtonexaminer.com

Handguns are a hot seller, especially anything that can be easily concealed. That doesn’t surprise me, as the concealed carry category is the fastest-growing in the entire industry.

Other hot sale items are AR-15’s and AK-47’s, with some credit given to ex-presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke.

The data from the ATF was put into a report by the NSSF. Other details from that report are;

• Of all rifles produced in 2017, 54% were modern sporting rifles.
• In 2017, 7,901,218 total firearms were produced and imported. Of those, 4,411,923 were pistols and revolvers, 2,821,945 were rifles, and 667,350 were shotguns.
• An interim 2018 estimate showed 7,660,772 total firearms were produced and imported. Of those, 4,277,971 were pistols and revolvers, 2,846,757 were rifles, and 535,994 were shotguns.
• Firearms-ammunition manufacturing accounted for nearly 12,000 employees producing more than $4.1 billion in goods shipped in 2017.
• An estimated 8.1 billion rounds, of all calibers and gauges, were produced in 2018 for the U.S. market.

Those are big numbers.