I was surfing the internet for interesting ideas for blog topics when I stumbled across this:
Americans apparently are buying fewer guns. Blanket statement that will offend most people, this is for legal purchases only described in these numbers. Illegal purchases cannot be tracked.
FBI background checks, a close proxy for gun purchases, dropped for the fourth consecutive year in 2024 to 28.1 million, compared with 29.9 million background checks the previous year.
Background checks decreased 29% in 2024 compared with the all-time high of 39.7 million in 2020. Plus, they dropped 28% compared with 2021’s 38.9 million. COVID and the general violence had a induced a lot of people to arm themselves. More women than men were getting new FOID cards during this period in Illinois.
Gun ownership saturation is likely one reason for the sales slip, as Americans rushed to arm themselves during the early stages of the pandemic.
Violent crime, often a trigger for gun purchases, is also down overall nationally. Ky. by far led the nation in background checks last year with 3.7 million, with Ill. a distant second with 2.8 million. Rounding out the top five states: Texas, with 1.7 million background checks; Calif. (1.5 million) and Fla. (1.3 million)
Which gets us to the question of how many is enough. Also, I hope that all owners are continuing to be trained and shoot regularly in a effort to reduce accidents.