United States: Weapons Trending in 2020

We can all likely agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has heavily contributed to the acute uncertainty gripping the world in 2020. In the United States, a variety of other events took place in 2020 to further elevate the average American's concern about the future, divisive presidential elections and multiple months of historic, nationwide protests among them. The data suggests that for some Americans this uncertainty may have translated into a very specific action: application for the purchase of a firearm ... times 4 million.  According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Investing.com:

• About 20 percent of all 2020 firearm applications were filed in the state of Illinois.
• More than 50 percent of applications were for a handgun.  
• Assuming even half of all applications led to the sale of a weapon, then since the beginning of 2020 more than 15 million firearms have been sold in the United States, or about 1 weapon per 20 US citizens.
• Riding this wave are US firearm manufacturers and retailers, whose share prices of have shown significant growth and even outpaced the S&P earlier in the year. Big 5 Sporting Goods (Ticker: BGFV) showed the strongest growth to date among our sample (see below) and cited cost savings during pandemic with reduced store operation expenses and labor costs as well as strong sales across a broad array of categories.

Notes:

NICS statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS and not the number of firearms sold. Based on varying state laws and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale. The indicator “multiple” denotes a background check for which more than one type of firearm is associated to a single background check.

Definitions: Handgun — Any firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand; Long Gun — A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder; Other — Frames, receivers, and other firearms that are neither handguns nor long guns.