2021 was the second-busiest year on record for gun stores.

If you've been shopping for firearms or ammo lately, you might have noticed empty shelves and long waitlists. There's a reason for that: gun sales have continued to surge for the second straight year, at a rate that many retailers are struggling to keep up with.

While the exact number of firearms sold during 2021 hasn't been confirmed just yet, every recorded metric places the year as the second busiest of all time—right behind 2020. Let's take a look at some of the numbers!

As of December 1, 2021, gun sales in the U.S. were placed at around ~16.722 million. Tentative sales totals for the month of December push that to around 20 million. While this number falls slightly short of the 22.8 million firearm sales that made 2020 into such a record-breaking year, it's still enough to firmly cement this last year in second place. For reference, the previous highest record was a comparatively minor 16.7 million firearm sales in 2016.

There's more insight that can be gleaned from these sales numbers, and the statistics show gun ownership is becoming more and more common amongst households in America. Over the course of the last three years—all of which have seen surging gun sales—more than 7.5 million people became first-time gun owners. Put another way, this means a full 3% of people who formerly didn't own firearms made their first purchase in just the last 36 months. The majority of these people (around 5.4 million of them) brought these firearms into homes that previously didn't have them, either. 

While it can be easy to write off all of these purchases as reactions to various spooky headlines that have arisen since the start of the pandemic, this isn't necessarily the case.

Firearms and accessories designed for hunting saw massive increases in sales; enough to massively reverse a decline in interest for the activity that has been sustained over decades. It makes sense: hunting is a socially distanced activity, after all! To put this shift in perspective, 2020 alone saw a 12% increase in hunting licenses, an increase of roughly 1 million new hunters.

It's worth noting that these increases in firearm sales were consistent amongst Americans who already own guns. In fact, people who own guns were expanding their collections more than ever last year. We've written before about the great ammo shortage, and how much of the supply issues last year weren't actually caused by decreasing availability. In fact, demand for ammo is the largest driver of this trend, with current demand far eclipsing any other year on record. 

If these numbers are any indication, 2022 is looking to be another banner year for gun sales. As more and more Americans purchase firearms, the conversation around ownership is inevitably changing, especially as the profile of the average gun owner shifts away from the traditionally older crowd that it's associated with.

One thing is for sure: if you're looking to spend some time on the range this year, you better book ahead of time.