New Jersey Firearm Applications Top 2018 and 2019 Combined

Applications for firearm purchases in New Jersey have surged to a point that this year has already witnessed more applications than were submitted in 2018 and 2019 combined.

NJ.com reports that “the number of applications this year has increased by more than 137% since last year.”

The increase is even clearer when one considers that “as of August 12, the New Jersey State Police has received nearly 130,000 firearm applications, topping the number of applications the agency received in 2018 and 2019 combined.”

This news dovetails perfectly with reports from earlier in the summer showing firearm applications were surging at unprecedented rates in certain towns around the state.

On July 25, 2020, the Asbury Park Press reported that gun applications “in the state more than tripled from May through June,” with some towns reporting a 1,000 percent increase in applications.

The New Jersey State Police noted there were “26,802 firearm permit applications” filed January 2019 through June 2019. There were 94,954 such applications January 2020 through June 2020.

The surging demand for guns in New Jersey has been complemented by a similar increase in firearm demand nationwide throughout this year. On August 3, 2020, Breitbart News reported that July was the seventh consecutive month for record background checks in 2020.

Every month this year, beginning with January 2020, set a record for its respective month. In other words, January 2020 witnessed more background checks than any January on record, February 2020 witnessed more background checks than any February on record, March 2020 than any March, and so on.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.