Well, besides President-elect Donald J. Trump’s stunning upset win over Hillary Clinton, 2016 will also be known as another record year in gun sales. In fact, more guns have been sold this year than ever before in history. Stephen Gutowski of The Washington Free Beacon reported about this earlier this month:
More gun-related FBI background checks were done in 2016 than in any other year in history after November set yet another record for gun sales in the United States.So far this year, the FBI has processed 24,767,514 checks through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS, which puts 2016 more than 160,000 checks above the yearly record set in 2015. The record comes after November 2016 set its own monthly record with 2,561,281 checks, nearly 320,000 more than the previous record set last November. This gun sales spike has lasted for over a year and resulted in monthly records for 19 straight months.
November’s record comes as the firearms industry is beginning its seasonal upswing with millions of Americans purchasing firearms in the lead up to the holiday season. That upswing is likely to add to 2016’s record because December has traditionally seen the highest number of NICS checks for the year.
“Reports of the industry’s demise were greatly exaggerated by the liberal anti-gun media,” Larry Keane, the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s senior vice president, said of the new record.
Now, the spike in gun sales was due to fears that Obama and the Democrats would enact new gun control laws, specifically through executive order. Even Hillary Clinton made similar overtures on the 2016 campaign trail. So, will the gun rush end? I’m not so sure. It may not be as intense as we’ve seen over the past 12-18 months, but as long as Americans remain fearful of big government—I think you can expect gun sales to remain healthy.