I was fortunate to be asked to present on “Guns in America” at the annual conference of the Outdoor Writers Association of America yesterday (6 October 2021). I discussed “Gun Culture 2.0 and the Changing Face of Gun Owners in America.” I was fairly certain that the presentation would not be recorded, so before IContinue reading “Gun Culture 2.0 and the Changing Face of Gun Owners in America”
Tag Archives: gun sales
Sociology of Guns Module 3: Gun Culture 2.0, the Great Gun Buying Spree of 2020+, and the Changing Face of Gun Owners
This module takes up the demographics of gun ownship, the Great Gun Buying Spree of 2020+, and the changing face of American gun owners. We know from many surveys over a long period of time that the statistically average legal gun owner is a middle-aged, politically conservative, married, white man from a rural area inContinue reading “Sociology of Guns Module 3: Gun Culture 2.0, the Great Gun Buying Spree of 2020+, and the Changing Face of Gun Owners”
Quick Compare: 2020 vs 2019 NICS Numbers — Trent Steidley
2020 has passed, and with that we can finally start saying how the whole year stacked up compared to previous years in terms of gun sales (or more appropriately “sales” since its pretty much proxies all the way down when it comes to measuring gun sales). Here I am using the NICS data from the […]Continue reading “Quick Compare: 2020 vs 2019 NICS Numbers — Trent Steidley”
Pandemics, Protests, and Firearms Purchasing
There has been a good deal of speculation and anec-data shared about the great gun buying spree of 2020. It is impossible to deny that something significant happened, but the extent and nature of what happened remains to be understood. Although it does not tell us everything we want to know, “Pandemics, Protests, and Firearms”Continue reading “Pandemics, Protests, and Firearms Purchasing”
Societal Uncertainty + Social Unrest = Gun Sales
The fact that gun sales have been off the charts in 2020 is not news, but some were still surprised at the July sales numbers. The newsadvocacy organization The Trace has created an interesting data visualization drawing on NICS data as a proxy for gun sales. I don’t have any commentary to add beyond thingsContinue reading “Societal Uncertainty + Social Unrest = Gun Sales”
COVID-19 and Guns Video Series by Duke Center for Firearms Law
I was privileged to be invited recently to contribute to an ongoing series of videos produced by the Duke Center for Firearms Law on COVID-19 and guns. I was asked to speak about my approach to studying guns, to speculate about why people are buying guns during the COVID-19 pandemic, what misconceptions people have aboutContinue reading “COVID-19 and Guns Video Series by Duke Center for Firearms Law”
A COVID-19 Handgun Purchasing Boom? – By Trent Steidley
In his third and final guest post in this series (see his first and second), Trent Steidley takes up the claim that the COVID-19 gun purchasing spree of March 2020 was driven by handgun purchases (a claim I made myself, which helped begin this dialogue). Was March 2020 the best month for handgun sales ever?Continue reading “A COVID-19 Handgun Purchasing Boom? – By Trent Steidley”
How Unprecedented Was The Gun Buying Spree of March 2020 – By Trent Steidley
In his guest post yesterday, Trent Steidley challenged the simplistic use of data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) as a measure of “gun sales.” Today he critically engages the second of three common narratives emerging from the great gun buying spree of March 2020: that March 2020 saw the most gunsContinue reading “How Unprecedented Was The Gun Buying Spree of March 2020 – By Trent Steidley”
Caution and Sense with NICS Data and Gun Sale Spikes – by Trent Steidley
My recent posts about the great COVID19 gun buying spree of March 2020 (especially handguns) elicited some helpful clarifying and corrective tweets from my colleague Trent Steidley (bio below). I don’t know any sociologist as familiar or adept with National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) data as he is. I am grateful, therefore, thatContinue reading “Caution and Sense with NICS Data and Gun Sale Spikes – by Trent Steidley”
Coronavirus Supplants Barack Obama as Greatest Gun Salesman in American History
Barack Obama has apparently met his match as the “greatest gun salesman in American history.” On Sunday, an acquaintance from my years wandering around American gun culture messaged me to say that he had not seen a gun buying response like this one in some 15 years in the industry. I asked him what inContinue reading “Coronavirus Supplants Barack Obama as Greatest Gun Salesman in American History”
Gun Curious 