The number of people exercising their Second Amendment rights and becoming new gun owners has skyrocketed, reaching a number equivalent to the population of Florida since 2020.
According to the report: National Sports Shooting Foundation The NSSF reported that the number of people who became first-time gun owners since 2020 has increased to more than 22.3 million, roughly the population of Florida.
Mark Oliva, NSSF’s managing director of public affairs, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the surge in new owners is a result of COVID-19 lockdowns and soft-on-crime prosecutors reminding residents across all 50 states that they can’t always rely on law enforcement or the Biden administration’s “heavy-handed regulation.”
“In recent years, there has been a significant increase in Americans exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Oliva said. “There are several reasons for this, including concerns about personal safety, rising crime, some prosecutors refusing to lock up criminals, and the Biden Administration’s attacks on that right with heavy-handed regulation.”
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AR-15 style rifles are sold in gun stores. (Reuters/Bin Guang)
First-time gun buyers made up about 40% of buyers as of mid-2020, NSSF cited retailers as saying, compared with 20-24% being “normal.”
According to the NSSF, approximately 8.4 million new first-time gun owners became citizens in 2020.
In 2021, the number of gun buyers, which had surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, stabilized, with the number of first-time gun buyers at about 5.4 million, or about 30% of all gun buyers.
Alex Hein, from NAGR, said it was “silly” to ban shooting at human silhouettes in shooting clubs. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The total will be about 4.2 million in 2022, before rising slightly to 4.3 million in 2023, according to industry data.
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While the 2024 figure has yet to be finalized, the NSSF said it has so far reached more than six million. FBI Nationwide Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Verification Processed for Firearm Sales.
A Smith & Wesson handgun is for sale at a gun store in Houston, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Oliva emphasized the impact new gun owners will have on the upcoming election.
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“These are gun owners who didn’t think about what this right would mean for their lives and their personal freedoms before they bought a gun,” he said. “That’s going to be a consideration in this election. It could be a factor in the next election as Americans consider whether their government is willing to infringe on their constitutional rights.”
