Gun sales in NC doubled last year, by far the biggest increase in US, study says: What to know
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North Carolina wasn't in the top 10 states for gun purchases in 2023. However, a study showed North Carolina had a 112% increase in gun sales from 2022 to 2023. The next highest was Illinois, at a 5% increase.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis and issued a 39-page advisory on initiatives to prevent firearm deaths. The advisory said the rate of firearm-related deaths “reached a near three-decade high in 2021."
Pew Research data showed that about a third of Americans say they own a gun. Another report showed that in the first four months of 2024 alone, nearly 5.5 firearms were purchased in the U.S.
The report, published by SafeHomes.org, used data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System to determine which states had the largest ownership of recently purchased firearms. Here's what they found.
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Which state sold the most guns in 2023?
The top three states for gun sales in 2023 were also the states with the most residents, showing plenty of correlation with population size. SafeHomes' analysis showed that these were the 10 states with the most firearm sales in 2023:
Texas: 1,347,589
Florida: 1,316,471
California: 1,043,421
Pennsylvania: 841,523
Tennessee: 633,015
Ohio: 583,314
Virginia: 581,698
Michigan: 555,650
Missouri: 520,488
Illinois: 504,452
North Carolina was 11th with 499,561 gun sales, according to the study.
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Nationwide legal gun sales declined slightly last year
SafeHomes Managing Editor Rob Gabriele noted that nationwide gun sales decreased by 4% in 2023 with 16.7 million firearms sold. But N.C. was on the opposite end of the spectrum in this category. While the state didn't make it into the top 10 for total sales, the amount of guns purchased in the state increased by 112%.
The only other states with increases were Illinois at 5%, New Hampshire at 3% and Florida at 1%.
SafeHomes noted that North Carolina's pistol purchase permit law ended in March 2023, a key factor in the dramatic spike in registered gun sales between 2022 and 2023. Buyers were no longer required to get a permit from their sheriff's office to buy a handgun, which simplified and increased sales, evidenced by the spike in background checks.
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Gun violence reaches an all-time high
According to U.S. Surgeon General Murthy, more than 48,000 people died by gun violence in 2022, an increase of 16,000 deaths compared with 2010. At the same time, firearm-related suicides had risen 20%, including a “staggering increase” in such deaths among young people, the advisory noted. Murthy said gun violence demands a public health approach rather than the polarizing political response.
Gun violence became the leading cause of death for children, and U.S. adults are worried that they or a loved one will become a victim, according to Reuters. More than half of U.S. adults said they or a family member had experienced a firearm-related incident, a 2023 report from KFF found.
Alexis Simmerman, Sara Chernikoff, C. A. Bridges, Austin American-Statesman, contributed to this report.
Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: North Carolina gun sales rise 110%
