Gun sales have started hot in 2023, with Americans continuing to arm themselves as crime and random shootings surge.
The FBI today reported near-record background checks for January and February, marking 41 straight months of 2 million or more checks conducted.
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The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry’s trade group, said that sales were over 1.3 million in February.
“This is demonstrative of a steady appetite for Americans from all walks of life exercising their Second Amendment right to lawful firearm ownership,” said NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva, who also criticized liberal charges that gun owners are somehow feeding crime in the nation.
“Figures likes these, month-after-month, show us that Americans reject that rhetoric and are choosing to protect themselves and participate in the rich heritage of the shooting sports,” he added.
A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows Americans increasingly do not support a national ban on Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) at the same time President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats continue to demand one. https://t.co/BoSUpxOjDh
— NSSF—The Firearm Industry Trade Association (@NSSF) February 28, 2023
The continued surge in sales is attributed to people looking to protect themselves, according to industry representatives.
What’s more, some are growing concerned about promises by President Joe Biden and his Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to sidestep Congress and ban some firearms on their own.
The ATF, for example, flipped on the earlier approval of sales of AR-15 style pistols to now demanding that they be registered and new sales subject to a $200 tax. Several groups, including the National Rifle Association, have sued to stop the move and eagerly expect the case to reach the Supreme Court.
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Biden, meanwhile, has ignored the popularity of the AR-15 and pledged to ban it. Just last night, he repeated his promise to ban “assault weapons” come “hell or high water.” Industry officials believe he does not have the votes to win a ban in the House or Senate.
Oliva, reacting to the president’s latest comments, told Secrets, “President Biden’s bluster to ban commonly-owned firearms come ‘hell or high water’ ignores the reality that it is the U.S. Constitution that is the dam preventing a flood of gun control laws that would rob Americans of their fundamental rights. His comments only underscore the imperative of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that reaffirmed the individual right to lawful firearm ownership. Without the foresight of our Founding Fathers to protect this right, there would be nothing to prevent government authorities from trampling on individual liberties and devolving to tyranny.”
