CCW Handgun Sales Still Surging

Here’s a chart from huntersurvey.com via the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The big surprise—or continuing trend—is the uptick in handgun sales. Normally, at this Bambi-must-die time of year, rifle sales far outpace long guns. Not so in ’09. Cross-checking this info against the FBI NICS background checks . . .

we can see the growth in CCW permits fueling handgun growth. In 1999, the FBI ran 9,138,123 checks. Ten years later, that number grew to 14,033,824—which is a significantly larger number than gun sales (roughly 11m in 2009).

Sturm, Ruger & Co. are still selling their LCP like crazy, reflecting the surge in concealed carry weapons (CCW) permits. Note: only a small percentage of these new CCW holders are new to guns.

Nikon’s big marketing push into AR scopes is an unqualified success—providing their margins are good. Mossberg still owns the shotgun market, which is increasingly value driven. Generally, the firearms market is down slightly.