GUN SALES BOOMING
Record Michigan gun sales prompted by social discourse over politics, pandemic, and racial injustice
Moe Chowdury is selling whatever he can get his hands on these days.
The sales manager at IFA Tactical Gun Shop in Sterling Heights is one of the many firearm dealers across Michigan reporting record-breaking sales in 2020.
According to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a total of 868,190 FBI firearm background checks were performed in Michigan through October, the highest number since 1998 when the FBI started keeping track.
Chowdury said there are many factors that have contributed to the historic increases in gun sales statewide.
“My sales are up 400% over last year,” he said. “There are multiple reasons why including the (COVID-19) pandemic, protests, riots, business owners being scared, and the election. Everyone is having their best year in sales. I can almost guarantee that. If anyone says it’s not (their best year in sales) they would be lying.”
With the increase in demand, he said manufacturers have not been able to keep up. Right now, Chowdury is buying the bulk of his ammunition online rather than buying directly from the manufacturer.
“People are buying whatever they can get their hands on right now and we are buying and selling whatever we can get our hands on,” he said. “We have limited stock right now. We are getting very little ammunition shipments directly from the manufacturers.”
NICS was established as a result of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, which requires a national namecheck system for federal firearms licensees (FFL), such as gun shop owners, pawn shop dealers, and retailers who use NICS to determine whether a person can legally buy or own a gun.
According to the FBI, over 100,000 federal firearm background checks were conducted monthly in the state of Michigan between June and October. The high-point was 110,604 in June.
According to Pew Research, the United States is ranked No. 1 in the world when it comes to gun ownership. Estimates show that there are anywhere from over 200 million to more than 350 million guns in the U.S.
Michigan ranks 31st in the nation with 28.8% of its total
population owning a registered firearm, with the U.S. average at 33% There are over 65,000 registered firearms in the state.
Ed Swadish, owner of Huron Valley Guns in New Hudson, said his 2020 sales have been the equivalent of “11 Christmas seasons.”
Swadish said that he’s selling to people of all ages, races, and social levels while performing around 1,000 background checks per month on sales of mostly pistols, rifles and shotguns.
“All of them feel they need to be able to protect their families,” he said. “So many people have said, ‘I never wanted a gun, never felt like I need one, but now I do.’”
Swadish believes that the biggest contributing factor to the surge in gun sales is fear, adding the last big sales jump for dealers came after the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 28 dead and two others injured.
“That was due to possible loss of Second Amendment rights,” he said. “This sales run was based on the need of protecting their families. Police departments were coming out and saying, ‘you better buy a gun, we might not be able to get to you.’”
In the four months following the shooting, gun sales in the U.S. increased by 3 million compared to typical sales levels, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
During that same fourmonth period, FBI firearm background checks totaled 222,437 in Michigan, a 47,626 increase over the previous four months.
The nation’s three largest firearm manufacturers – Sturm Ruger, Remington Outdoor, and Smith and Wesson – also netted more than $390 million in profits on record sales, the year following the Sandy Hook shooting.
Robert Rudowski, a local gun dealer and president of The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, said a combination of social discourse over the pandemic, the divisive political environment, and racial injustice are all contributing factors to some degree to the increase in sales.
He said that he would be selling shotguns or bird guns if he could keep them on the shelves, adding “they’re hard to get right now.”
Another reason for the increase in background checks could be that, up until this year, a valid Michigan Concealed Pistol License (CPL) issued on or after Nov. 22, 2005 stood as someone’s background check.
As of March 2020, that no longer was the case.
That month, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) notified all Michigan federal firearm licensees that all would now be required to conduct a NICS background check prior to the transfer of a firearm, regardless if the individual possesses a valid, unexpired CPL.
The ATF’s reasoning behind the change was that it had received information from the FBI that Michigan CPLs had been issued to applicants that were prohibited under federal law from possessing or transporting firearms due to misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence and/or their habitual use of marijuana.
In Michigan, gun dealers are given the green light to sell firearms if an individual’s NICS background check does not come back within 14 days, according to Rudowski. Even so, law enforcement can still seize firearms from individuals whose background check ultimately comes back as “denied.