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February 16th, 2013
By voice vote yesterday (Friday), the Colorado State House of Representatives* approved tough new gun-control legislation after hours of heated debate. One new law will ban ammunition magazines over 15 rounds (or 8 for shotguns). In addition, companion bills will require exhaustive background checks on all firearm purchases, and impose severe restrictions on lending guns. Yet another new law will prohibit CCW permit-holders from carrying a firearm on college campuses.
The new laws are not final yet. They advanced on Friday’s unrecorded “voice vote”, but there will be a final “recorded vote” in the House next week. Then, before they can become law, these bills must be approved by the Democrat-controlled Colorado Senate and signed by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. However, Senate approval is likely and Hickenlooper has stated his support for the new laws.
House Bill 1224 – Bans magazines with a capacity greater than fifteen rounds.
House Bill 1228 – Imposes a “gun tax” for a background check when purchasing a firearm.
House Bill 1229 – Criminalizes the private transfer of a firearm.
House Bill 1226 – Repeals law allowing CCW permit-holders to carry firearms on college campuses.
Colorado resident (and one of our contributing writers) Zak Smith says: “We are facing a tough fight here in Colorado — but don’t give up yet. Now is the time to contact your state representatives.” The official recorded vote will be taken Monday. Accordingly, Zak adds: “Concerned Colorado gun owners need to contact their legislators this weekend before the final recorded vote.” CLICK THIS LINK to get contact information on Colorado State Legislators, in Colorado General Assembly House and Senate.
MagPul Says it May Leave Colorado
Colorado gun parts-maker Magpul has announced that it might leave Colorado if the magazine ban becomes law. This could result in the loss of 600-700 jobs (Magpul employees and subcontractors). Magpul also contributes “nearly $85 million to Colorado’s economy” according to Fox News. “If we’re able to stay in Colorado and manufacture a product, but law-abiding citizens of the state were unable to purchase the product, customers around the state and the nation would boycott us for remaining here,” Doug Smith, Magpul’s chief operating officer, told the Denver Post.
*The Colorado General Assembly is bicameral, composed of the Colorado House of Representatives and the Colorado Senate. The House has 65 members while the Senate has 35 members.
November 28th, 2012
 On November 23, 2012 (Black Friday), Americans purchased more guns than on any other day in history. Gun sales (based on NICS background check data) set a new single-day record. This year, the FBI logged 154,873 Black Friday background checks, up 20% from the 129,166 back-ground checks done on Black Friday 2011. And, since a NICS check may authorize purchase of multiple guns, the 154,873 number may “under-count” the actual number of firearms purchased on Black Friday this year.
Recent election outcomes may have influenced the spike in gun sales. People are concerned that more restrictive gun control laws may be enacted during President Obama’s second term. Writing in Ammoland.com, AWR Hawkins declared: “The bottom line: Americans want their guns. And it appears they’re getting them before Obama has the chance to do anything about it.” Hawkins adds: “As in 2011, women were increasingly among those buying guns on Black Friday. And first time buyers, whether male or female, were also well represented.”
January 5th, 2012
Americans of all walks of life are purchasing more pistols, rifles, and shotguns than ever before. Based on NSSF-adjusted FBI background check (NICS) records, American purchased 10,791,275 firearms in 2011. That’s an all-time record, and a 14% increase over 2010. Gun sales hit a new high in 2011 after a decade of steady increases (see chart). In 2002, ten years ago, slightly less than 7,000,000 firearms were sold. The 2011 sales figure represents a 54.1% increase over 2002 sales. And the NICS figures are conservative, because they do not report multiple gun sales made with a single background check.
Gun Ownership Becomes More Universal
The increase in gun sales over the last ten years reflects growth in the ranks of gun owners. A significant percentage of recent sales have been made to first-time gun owners. And more women are arming themselves. Gun ownership is becoming more universal, not limited to the traditional groups of male hunters and sportsmen. A recent Gallup Poll found that: “47 percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or on their property”.
 First-time buyers and women are driving the spike in gun sales. USA Today reports: “Some gun industry analysts attributed the unusual surge to a convergence of factors, including an increasing number of first-time buyers seeking firearms for protection and women who are being drawn to sport shooting and hunting.” Confirming that view, Bloomberg.com states that more women, liberals, and Democrats are buying guns. Multiple factors are at work according to CNBC.com: “Uncertainty in a presidential election year. Warriors returning from the battlefields. The comeback of the hunter. These are just some of the reasons… why firearms makers are ringing in 2012 like gangbusters.”
Gallup Gun Ownership Poll Summary
“A clear societal change took place regarding gun ownership in the early 1990s, when the percentage of Americans saying there was a gun in their home or on their property dropped from the low to mid-50s into the low to mid-40s and remained at that level for the next 15 years. Whether this reflected a true decline in gun ownership or a cultural shift in Americans’ willingness to say they had guns is unclear. However, the new data suggest that attitudes may again be changing. At 47%, reported gun ownership is the highest it has been in nearly two decades — a finding that may be related to Americans’ dampened support for gun-control laws. However, to ensure that this year’s increase reflects a meaningful rebound in reported gun ownership, it will be important to see whether the uptick continues in future polling.”
The NSSF adjusts NICS data by subtracting out NICS purpose-code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky, Iowa and Utah for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases. In addition to other purposes, NICS is used to check transactions of firearms sales and transfers on new and used handguns and long guns. For more NICS info visit the NICS website.
Photo by KapapCombative.com.
May 13th, 2011
We don’t quite know why, but Americans appear to be using their tax refunds to build up their gun collections — April gun sales reached an all-time high. Maybe it’s a concern with looming inflation — a strategy to “buy now” before prices go up. For whatever reason, gun sales are up substantially this April compared to the same period in 2010 (and previous years).
NICS Background Checks in April Are 15.2% Higher Than Last Year
The NSSF announced that gun purchases were up 15.2% in April 2011 compared to April 2010. This is based on the NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 843,484 compared to the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 731,955 in April 2010. This marks the eleventh straight month-over-month increase in NSSF-adjusted NICS figures.
Though not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provides a more accurate picture of current market conditions. The adjusted NICS data was derived by NSSF by subtracting out all NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky, Iowa and Utah for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases.
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