AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar
Gun sales declined sharply last month compared to June of 2020, but a simple year-to-year comparison doesn’t really tell the full story. After all, last June was one of the busiest months on record for firearms retailers, with the National Shooting Sports estimating that 2,177,586 guns were sold during what’s usually one of the slowest months of the year.
Since then we’ve seen continued strong sales, but the NSSF-adjusted figures for last month show that we may be finding out what the “new normal” looks like for the industry.
The NSSF’s Mark Oliva reports:
AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar
The U.S. territory of Guam doesn’t pop up in the news all that often, except when members of Congress fret over the possibility that the island could tip over and capsize if too many U.S. Marines are stationed there. Less than 200,000 people call the island in the Pacific home, and while it’s an important strategic location for our forces in the Pacific, it’s typically not on the radar for many of us on the mainland.
So, don’t expect a lot of headlines about the growing popularity of gun ownership on Guam, where the practice was tightly restricted until just a few years ago, when the legislature dropped its “may issue” policy on concealed carry licenses in favor of a “shall issue” system. Since then, the culture of lawful gun ownership has grown dramatically, and the Great Gun Run of 2020 has sparked even more interest in the right to keep and bear arms.