Gross sales of handguns have exploded lately. AP Picture/Sue Ogrocki
Individuals have blamed many culprits, from psychological sickness to insufficient safety, for the tragic mass shootings which might be occurring with growing frequency in faculties, places of work and theaters throughout the U.S.
The most recent, which occurred on Could 24, 2022, at a Texas elementary college and left no less than 19 kids and two lecturers useless, was the 213th mass taking pictures this 12 months – and the twenty seventh that occurred in a college.
But throughout a lot of America’s ongoing dialog concerning the root causes of gun violence, the makers of weapons have usually escaped scrutiny. As a public well being researcher, I discover this odd, as a result of proof reveals that the tradition round weapons contributes considerably to gun violence. And firearm producers have performed a significant position in influencing American gun tradition.
That’s starting to vary, significantly because the US$73 million settlement between the households of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty taking pictures and the maker of the rifle used within the bloodbath. This may increasingly open the door for extra lawsuits in opposition to firearm producers.
To assist help this much-needed dialogue, I’d wish to share some vital information concerning the firearm trade that I’ve discovered from my analysis on gun violence prevention.
Surging handgun gross sales
The U.S. is saturated with weapons, and has turn out to be much more so over the previous decade. In 2020 alone, U.S. gun producers produced 11.1 million firearms, up from 5.4 million in 2010. Pistols and rifles made up about 75% of the overall.
As well as, solely a small variety of gun-makers dominate the market. The highest 5 pistol producers alone managed over 70% of all manufacturing in 2020: Smith & Wesson; Sig Sauer; Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Glock and Kimber Manufacturing. Equally, the most important rifle producers – Sturm, Smith & Wesson, Springfield, Henry Rac Holding and Diamondback Firearms – managed 61% of that market.
However all that solely tells a part of the story. A have a look at the caliber of pistols manufactured over the previous decade reveals a major change in demand that has reshaped the trade.
The variety of manufactured large-caliber pistols capable of hearth rounds higher than or equal to 9 mm has soared over the previous 15 years, rising from simply over half one million in 2005 to greater than 3.9 million by 2020. The variety of .38-caliber pistols – small handguns designed particularly for hid carry – jumped to a document 1.1 million in 2016 and totaled 660,000 in 2020, in contrast with 107,000 in 2005.
This means a rising demand for extra deadly weapons, particularly these targeted particularly on self-defense and hid carry.
The manufacturing of rifles has additionally elevated, doubling from 1.4 million in 2005 to 2.8 million in 2020, although down from a document 4.2 million in 2016. That is pushed primarily by the next demand for semi-automatic weapons, together with assault rifles.
Explaining the stats
So what can clarify the bounce within the sale of high-caliber handguns and semi-automatic rifles?
Gun-makers have turn out to be very efficient at advertising their wares as obligatory instruments for self-defense – maybe largely to offset a decline in demand for leisure use.
For instance, in 2005, Smith & Wesson introduced a significant new advertising marketing campaign targeted on “security, safety, safety and sport.” The variety of weapons the corporate offered soared after the swap, climbing 30% in 2005 and 50% in 2006, led by sturdy progress in pistol gross sales. By comparability, the variety of firearms offered in 2004 rose 11% over the earlier 12 months.
There’s sturdy survey proof that gun house owners have turn out to be much less more likely to cite searching or sport as a cause for his or her possession, as a substitute pointing to private safety. The share of gun house owners who informed Gallup that the rationale they possessed a firearm was for searching fell to 40% in 2019 from virtually 60% in 2000. The share that cited “sport” as their cause fell much more.
In the meantime, Gallup discovered that 88% of gun house owners in 2021 reported self-defense as a main cause, up from 67% in 2005.
‘Stand your floor’ legal guidelines flourish
One other potential rationalization for the uptick in handguns might be the widespread adoption of state “stand your floor” legal guidelines lately. These legal guidelines explicitly permit individuals to make use of weapons as a primary resort for self-defense within the face of a menace.
Utah enacted the primary “stand your floor” measure in 1994. The second legislation wasn’t adopted till 2005 in Florida. A 12 months later, “stand your floor” legal guidelines took off, with 11 states enacting one in 2006 alone. One other 15 have handed such legal guidelines since then, bringing the overall variety of states which have them on the books to twenty-eight.
These legal guidelines had been the results of a concerted Nationwide Rifle Affiliation lobbying marketing campaign. For instance, Florida’s legislation, which George Zimmerman utilized in 2013 to flee expenses for killing Trayvon Martin, was drafted by former NRA President Marion Hammer.
It’s not clear whether or not the marketing campaign to advertise stand-your-ground legal guidelines fueled the surge in handgun manufacturing. However it’s potential that it’s half of a bigger effort to normalize the possession of firearms for self-defense.
This general image suggests {that a} advertising change fueled an elevated demand for extra deadly weapons. This, in flip, seems to have fostered a change in gun tradition, which has shifted away from an appreciation of using weapons for searching, sport and recreation and towards a view that weapons are a necessity to guard oneself from criminals.
How and whether or not this variation in gun tradition is influencing charges of firearms violence is a query I’m at the moment researching.
That is an up to date model of an article revealed on Feb. 23, 2018.
Michael Siegel receives funding from the 97 % Basis.
