The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) collected data showing there were more than 5.4 million first-time gun buyers in 2021.
The NSSF report, which Breitbart News has in its possession, also shows that 33.2 percent of those first-time gun buyers were women.
Moreover, nearly 45 percent of retailers reported seeing an increase in the number of black Americans purchasing firearms in 2021 vs. what they saw in 2020.
The 2o21 increases in first-time gun purchases by women and black Americans in 2021 is important because it comes on the heels of 2020, when a similar phenomenon occurred. On August 4, 2020, Breitbart News reported NSSF numbers showing purchases by women and black Americans were up 58 percent from 2019.
People belonging to other minorities, including Hispanics, Asian Americans, and American Indians, have bought guns at a greater rate than before as well.
Retailers reported that 2021 saw a nearly 37 percent increase in gun sales to Hispanics, a 27 percent increase in gun sales to Asian Americans, and an 18 percent increase in sales to American Indians.
On January 23, 2022, Breitbart News pointed to an article in The Economist which noted that the growing diversity of gun owners is “bad for gun control advocates.”
“Gun ownership changes things,” Breitbart explained, “thus The Economist observed that people who own guns ‘are more politically active around gun issues than non-owners.'”
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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.