The gun control movement is based on a simple premise: more guns lead to more crime, and the only way to truly make the United States safer is to reduce the number of firearms in circulation.
When the modern gun control lobby got started in the 1960s, that idea seemed somewhat logical. Violent crime kept going up, and every year more and more guns were added to the mix. In 1991, though, violent crime peaked and then started its decade-long decline, but we continued purchasing millions of firearms each year.
From the early 1990s to 2020, violent crime and homicides fell by more than 50 percent, and after a brief spike during the COVID pandemic they are once again plummeting, this time to lows not seen since at least the 1960s, and probably not for a century or more. The number of privately-owned firearms, meanwhile, has grown to more than 400 million according to most estimates.
Even Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun “news” site The Trace can’t ignore the fact that while gun sales are rising, crime is dropping.
Gun violence is down, significantly, as gun sales are ticking up for the first time in years.
… Shooting deaths and injuries remain at historic lows in the United States, continuing the trend seen in Q1 and in recent years.
Data from the Gun Violence Archive shows 6,458 shooting deaths, and 11,781 shooting injuries in the first six months of the year. Both represent the lowest number since 2015.
The per-capita figure of 1.9 shooting deaths per 100,000 Americans is also the lowest in that span.
Still, a few states have seen increases in shooting deaths, including New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, and Massachusetts. These are smaller population states, so a few incidents can have a big impact; a June mass shooting in Iowa helps explain that state’s increase this year.
Two of those states also have incredibly restrictive gun laws, which is yet another bit of evidence that gun control doesn’t stop violent criminals.
While The Trace admits that “gun violence” is down and gun sales are up, it does try to minimize the increase in gun purchases.
An estimated 7.3 million firearms have been sold in the United States — about 4.5 million handguns and another 2.8 million long guns. That would be enough to arm every single resident of Tennessee.
The numbers represent a 2.7 percent increase in gun sales through six months compared to 2025. This marks the first time in six years that we’ve seen an increase in sales.
While the uptick is notable, the raw total is still lower than any year from 2020 to 2024.
A handful of states are posting huge increases compared to the first six months of last year. These include three states where legislation to restrict gun buying advanced or took effect:
- Virginia, where a suite of gun safety laws, including a currently paused ban on assault-style weapons, were signed by Governor Abigail Spanberger. The state’s gun sales soared 73 percent this year. The state’s 117,802 sales in June 2026 were the highest of any state, despite Virginia ranking 12th in population.
- Connecticut, where dealers say a proposed “Glock ban” propelled an increase of 25 percent.
- Rhode Island, where a ban on assault-style weapons took effect on July 1, 2026. In the first six months of the year, gun sales climbed 86 percent higher than in 2025.
Yes, when Democrats try to ban guns, it leads to a lot of people purchasing them. Go figure.
While this is the first time in six years that gun sales are up year-to-year, it’s not like sales have been non-existent. In the first six months of 2025, for instance, The Trace says there were 7,093,785 gun purchases. Compare that to the 4,539,309 purchases in the first half of 2010, and it’s easy to see that even with numbers off their peak in 2020, the new “normal” is well above what it was just a few years ago.
This year The Trace estimates 7,287,997 firearms have been sold since January. That’s roughly the same number (7,487,384) that were sold in the first six months of 2016. The big difference is that in 2016, that figure was a 16 percent increase in sales compared to the year before, while this year’s increase is a more modest 3 percent. Again, the floor is higher than it was just a decade ago.
If the “more guns equals more crime” theory were correct, then the United States should be seeing record high levels of “gun violence.” Instead, we’re living in what is likely the safest moment in the past 100 years, if not the entirety of U.S. history. With tens of millions of Americans keeping and bearing arms to protect themselves and others, it’s clear that the Second Amendment isn’t at odds with public safety, but is an integral component in keeping the peace.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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