Handgun sales hit record high last year

Gun sales overall up for the first time since 2016

Handgun sales hit a record in California last year as firearm sales rose dramatically overall for the first time since 2016, according to a statewide report released Thursday.

California recorded more than 680,000 handgun transactions in 2020, up about 65% since the prior year, new data from Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office show. Long gun transactions meanwhile surpassed 480,000, up about 46% over the same time period.

The increases make 2020 California’s biggest year ever for handgun sales since the state began collecting data in 1996, and its second-biggest year for long gun sales.

California’s spike follows a national pattern, according to Ari Freilich, state policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. National data show that gun sales surged around the first coronavirus lockdowns last March, then again amid protests surrounding the murder of Minnesota man George Floyd, and a third time around the presidential election.

“A broad trend here is that when people feel insecure and unsafe, larger numbers are turning to firearms,” Freilich said. “It’s not a coincidence — not an accident — that this year has also coincided in the largest spike in shootings and homicides on record.”

Still, 2020 trailed behind the state’s overall record: In 2016, California recorded 1,276,161 total firearm transactions, as compared to 1,126,836 last year. Sales had declined steadily from 2017 to 2019.

In comments accompanying the report, Bonta emphasized that legal transactions do not necessarily lead to violent incidents — but that Californians ought to familiarize themselves with red-flag laws that aim to keep firearms out

— Ari Freilich, state policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence “A broad trend here is that when people feel insecure and unsafe, larger numbers are turning to firearms.”

of the hands of people who could be a danger to themselves or others.

“We are fortunate in California to have common-sense gun laws that help combat the epidemic and keep the public safe,” Bonta said in a statement. “With one of the lowest firearm mortality rates in the country, we’ve seen our laws work. However, some tools,

like our red-flag laws, aren’t being used enough. There is something we can all do: pay attention to those around you.”

Firearm sales have risen threefold over the past two decades, with fewer than 200,000 handguns sold every year except one from 1996 to 2009. Sales increased apace until reaching the alltime record in 2016.

The data does not include ghost gun sales or weapons bought illegally, meaning that they represent a likely undercount of the true number

of weapons circulating statewide. Long gun sales were not recorded until 2014.

California’s record year comes amid heightened awareness of gun violence across the Bay Area after multiple mass shootings and ongoing litigation of the state’s longstanding mass weapons ban.

Last week, Oakland community leaders called on the county publicly to declare gun violence a public health crisis and to direct about $100 million of pandemic

relief funds toward services for Black neighborhoods. The city has recorded six mass shootings so far this year, including one that left seven people injured and one young man dead at Lake Merritt on Juneteenth. In contrast, from 2016 to 2020, the city recorded an average of four yearly mass shootings.

In late May, a San Jose mass shooting captured international attention when a Valley Transportation Authority employee opened fire on his colleagues, killing

nine of them and then himself.

The San Jose shooter legally owned the three handguns he used that day, according to the FBI, although he also was armed with illegal high-capacity magazines. Officials have not released details surrounding when and where he obtained the guns.

Last year, about 72% of gun transactions were made through dealers, state data shows, with 89% of long gun sales originating from dealers. The top 10 manufacturers have remained largely consistent for the past three years, with Glock making up 17% of sales in 2020.

Although the vast majority of people will use legal weapons responsibly, Freilich said, research consistently has indicated that those living in communities with more guns are at a higher risk of death by homicide, particularly involving firearms.

“This surge of gun sales will continue to lead to more death and killing,” Freilich said.