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While firearms sales are not directly tracked in the United States, the FBI's Criminal Background Check System is used in most transactions. Using this publically available data, it's possible to create a pretty reasonable estimate of firearm sales. Our figures are tabulated and presented without political bias, and we provide full disclosure of our source data and methodology below. All of the charts on this page are free to share or republish with credit to TacticalGear.com/Experts.
Monthly Estimated U.S. Gun Sales by State
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Hawaii
Note: Due to Hawaii's strict laws on firearms purchases, only 256 guns were sold there over the last decade. These sales figures, especially when compared to other states (even states with relatively low firearm sales figures), are essentially negligible. As a result, we've chosen to omit a visual graphic for Hawaii.
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Estimated Gun Sales: Methodology Limitations

Methodology
Because the federal government does not track firearms sales, we used the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System as the source for our monthly estimates. We adjusted those figures to exclude NICS checks that were only for concealed-carry permit applications and concealed-carry permit rechecks, as they are not related to the sale of a firearm.
The FBI's NICS checks are the best source for monthly firearm sales data in the United States, but using NICS checks is not without its limitations. While the NICS does offer the best approximation of U.S. gun sales per year, there isn't necessarily a one-to-one correlation between a NICS check and a firearm sale (i.e. 1 NICS check may not equal 1 gun sale). For instance, if an individual is buying three guns at once, they only require one NICS check.
It's also important to understand that, in 37 states (reflected in the chart above), NICS checks are not required for sales made between private parties, so those firearm sales are missing from the data. NICS checks are also not required in 23 states where a gun buyer already has a CCW permit; this means more missing sales figures for those states. In some states, NICS checks are only required for long gun purchases (instead, the state background check system is used for handgun purchases), resulting in still more missing sales figures.
While the methodology isn't perfect, it's also not too far off from realistic firearm sales figures. It's also based on trackable data from millions of purchases. The result offers interesting insights from multiple perspectives into gun sales in the United States.
All of the charts on this page are free to share or republish with credit to TacticalGear.com/Experts. Members of the media are welcome to contact us at pr@cat5.com for the creation of exclusive content. We are also available to provide interview opportunities with experts who can speak about tactical gear and related topics.
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