The stock for renowned gun maker Smith & Wesson is up 130 percent this year, amid the unprecedented surge in gun sales.

MarketWatch reported that Smith & Wesson–Ticker Symbol SWBI–were up 133.85 percent for the year, as of approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The stock for Sturm Ruger & Co–Ticker Symbol RGR–was up 42 percent for the year at approximately the same time Thursday as well.

The surge in value for firearms makers is occurring in a year where there were more National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS) checks January 1 through September than in all of 2019. FBI figures show there were 28,369,750 NICS checks in 2019 while there have been 28,826,449 checks through September of 2020.

On October 4, 2020, Breitbart News reported that September 2020 was the ninth consecutive month of record NICS background checks. That means January 2020 saw more NICS checks than any January in history, February 2020 saw more than any February in history, March 2020 than any March, and so on, all the way through September.

In August, Breitbart News reported National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) information that showed this year’s spike in gun purchases included buyers from demographics the establishment media often overlooks. Yahoo Sports reported NSSF research into the first six months of 2020, which found gun purchases by black men and women up 58 percent from where they were during the first six months of 2019.

Moreover, on September 21, 2020, Breitbart News reported that ammunition sales were up 139 percent the first six months of 2020 as compared to the first six months of 2019, as Americans sought bullets and shotgun shells for the guns they were buying at a record pace.

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.