US gun sales booming amid safety concerns
Gun sales rose 75% year-over-year in Jan. amid safety concerns stemming from coronavirus, Capitol riots and national unrest
January gun sales are up 75% year-over-year. FOX Business’ Jeff Flock with more.
U.S. gun sales skyrocketed 75% year-over-year in January amid safety concerns stemming from the coronavirus, Capitol riots, and unrest that occurred in major cities last summer.
FOX Business'Jeff Flock spoke with Jeff Regnier, owner of Kee Firearms and Training about the surge in gun sales his business has experienced in the first month of the New Year.
“The people are afraid for their safety so they want to protect their families,” Reigner said during an interview on “Varney & Co.” “You can see a lot of new-time gun buyers, a lot of women coming in to purchase firearms.
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The FBI said it conducted more than 4.3 million background checks in January 2021, compared to 2.7 million a year earlier.
Reigner said that January has been the biggest month for gun sales since his business first opened.
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Industry experts and academics who study gun ownership reportedly attribute the surge in gun sales largely to the industry’s core base of White male and politically conservative customers who often already owned one or several guns. However, the market widened this year to include a rush of first-time buyers.
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The vice president of marketing for gun store Brownells, Ryan Repp, told “Varney & Co.” on Tuesday that of the guns in America purchased in the last year, 40% of customers are first-time gun owners. The retailer noted that women make up 40% of the demographic and African American growth in the market reached 80%.
Repp stressed that based on his data, those who are buying guns this year “don’t fit the caricature of what many would consider to be the average gun owner.”