The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks gun sales and publishes a list of how many are handled as part of its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Each month, the figures are reported by state. Nearly everyone put through this system qualifies as a buyer. People who are excluded usually have criminal records. Of the more than 300 million checks that have been done since 1998, there have only been 1.5 million denials. Therefore, the data is the best proxy for U.S. gun sales available.

Gun sales have soared in the past year. They have reached 35,758,249 through November. That is more than the 28,369,750 for all of last year. Growing civil unrest may have prompted people to buy guns for personal and family protection. Another theory is that chaos brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is a major cause. A new UC Davis School of Medicine study about fear of violence reports: “The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated persistent structural, economic, and social inequities in the conditions that contribute to violence and its consequences.”

Who is buying these guns? A New York Times analysis shows that buyers cut across almost all demographic groups. Gun ownership has continued to be a flashpoint across the country, as the debate about who should own a gun and what kind of guns should be lawful continues, as it has for decades.

The rise in gun sales from 2019 to 2020 is not an anomaly. The number of gun sales has increased most years since 1999. At the current pace, 2020 sales will reach well over 35 million. Sales first topped 25 million in 2016, 20 million in 2013, 15 million in 2011 and 10 million in 2006. The first full year the FBI kept data was 1999, when sales were 9,138,123.

The rate of gun sales is by no means uniform from state to state, nor is the growth level. Among all states, Illinois has posted the highest sales so far this year, by far, at 6,625,082. That is almost 18% of U.S. gun sales in 2020, although the state has less than 4% of the nation’s population. Gun sales in Kentucky through the first 11 months total 2,922,940. That is 8% of the U.S. total. Kentucky has about 1.3% of the American population.

Together, gun sales in the two states hit 9,148,022 at the end of November, and they are certainly above 10 million now.

This is the state where people are buying the most guns.

These are the number of guns sold by state, with the figures for November and the first 11 months of 2020:

State/Territory	November Sales	YTD Sales
Illinois	550,784	6,625,082
Kentucky	377,139	2,922,940
Texas	197,225	2,119,665
Florida	176,987	1,739,256
Indiana	242,048	1,672,457
California	130,793	1,465,612
Pennsylvania	149,401	1,325,979
Utah	105,024	1,117,855
Alabama	91,839	984,548
Michigan	105,882	974,072
Tennessee	86,872	894,696
Ohio	94,205	891,551
Minnesota	84,754	876,907
Georgia	80,510	817,384
North Carolina	83,270	808,608
Virginia	68,774	753,479
Washington	72,267	707,741
Wisconsin	71,736	670,079
Missouri	65,193	641,512
Colorado	61,362	620,268
Arizona	54,444	610,911
South Carolina	50,441	481,473
Oregon	44,818	469,522
New York	49,623	463,070
Oklahoma	43,560	424,944
Louisiana	43,007	385,848
Mississippi	34,182	328,728
Arkansas	30,770	293,123
Maryland	31,332	273,278
Idaho	25,663	253,741
West Virginia	25,147	241,148
Iowa	24,215	239,577
Massachusetts	27,378	238,096
Kansas	24,622	225,715
Nevada	18,343	202,011
Connecticut	21,498	197,883
New Mexico	15,706	186,815
New Hampshire	16,772	160,212
New Jersey	22,951	156,739
Montana	15,410	155,604
Maine	12,310	125,503
South Dakota	12,543	103,711
Nebraska	10,926	93,548
Alaska	8,510	90,056
Wyoming	9,719	81,648
North Dakota	7,883	77,380
Delaware	7,568	70,391
Vermont	4,957	52,855
Rhode Island	4,966	47,367
Puerto Rico	3,604	27,232
Hawaii	1,722	18,096
District of Columbia	1,066	10,377
Guam	345	3,286
Virgin Islands	217	1,428
Mariana Islands	13	193

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