24/7 Wall St. Insights

• The United States is the largest consumer market for firearms in the world, and to meet demand, there are thousands of federally licensed gunmakers across the 50 states. 
• Due to the presence of a handful of companies, more firearms are manufactured in New Hampshire than in any other state.
• Also: 2 Dividend Legends to Hold Forever

The United States is home to less than 5% of the global population and more than 45% of the world’s civilian owned guns. The only country with more firearms than people — according to the Geneva based public policy research organization, Small Arms Survey — the U.S. has a gun culture like nowhere else on Earth, and demand from American consumers is fueling a multi-billion dollar industry. (Here is a look at the best-selling firearms in the United States.)

As of 2023, the arms and ammunition industry generated more than $90 billion in economic output, according to the industry trade association National Shooting Sports Foundation. Foundational to America’s arms and ammunition industry are the more than 3,700 active gunmakers that were operating in the U.S. in 2022, the most recent year of available data. Records from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives show that these manufacturers produced nearly 13.4 million firearms that same year.

While there are gunmakers operating in each of the 50 states, New Hampshire stands out as a hub for small-arms manufacturing. A reported 2,896,632 firearms were manufactured in New Hampshire in 2022, the most among the 50 states, and equal to about 21.6% of all domestic firearm production that year.

Pistols accounted for the largest share of firearm production in New Hampshire at about 76.8%. Meanwhile, approximately 18.2% of firearms manufactured in the state were rifles, 4.4% were revolvers, and fewer than 1% were shotguns. Miscellaneous firearms, an ATF category that includes any other unclassified firearm or firearm component, including frames and receivers, accounted for 0.5% of New Hampshire’s total output in 2022.

While there were 33 federally licensed gunmakers operating in New Hampshire in 2022, the state’s firearm industry is dominated by just a small handful of companies. Only eight manufacturing facilities in the state produced at least 100 firearms in 2022. Among them, the largest, as measured by total output, is a plant in Newington, NH, operated by Sig Sauer. Sig Sauer manufactured a reported 2,346,350 firearms in this plant alone in 2022, or about 81.0% of all firearms produced in the state that year. (Here is a look at the largest firearm company in every state.)

New Hampshire’s firearm industry has a meaningful economic impact. Both directly and indirectly, arms and ammunition generated $1.1 billion in output and supported an estimated 4,105 jobs in 2023, according to the NSSF. Additionally, through property, sales, and income taxes, the state and federal government collected a combined $136.7 million in revenue from New Hampshire’s arms and ammunition industry.

These are the leading firearm manufacturers in New Hampshire. It is important to note that this list is a ranking of federally licensed production facilities, and as a result, a company can appear more than once. Similarly, some brands on this list may be manufacturing firearms within the same facility as another, but are listed separately. Gunmakers who are federally licensed under their first and last name, rather than a company or brand name, were excluded from this list.

Why It Matters

The United States is the world’s largest consumer market for firearms, and partially as a result, there are thousands of federally licensed gunmakers across the 50 states. Due to the presence of a small handful of companies, most notably Sig Sauer, more guns are manufactured in New Hampshire than anywhere else in the country.

8. Tandem Kross LLC

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 185 (0.01% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 100% pistols
• Production facility location: Weare, NH

7. Sig Sauer Inc.

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 402 (0.01% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 83.8% pistols, 16.2% rifles
• Production facility location: Exeter, NH

6. Xray Aerospace Corp.

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 405 (0.01% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 4.4% pistols, 0.7% rifles, 94.8% misc.
• Production facility location: Claremont, NH

5. Belmont Firearms & Range LLC

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 959 (0.03% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 61.7% revolvers, 18.9% rifles, 2.2% shotguns, 17.2% misc.
• Production facility location: Belmont, NH

4. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 1,099 (0.04% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 3.5% pistols, 47.6% revolvers, 48.7% rifles, 0.1% shotguns, 0.2% misc.
• Production facility location: Newport, NH

3. Q, LLC

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 6,515 (0.22% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 79.3% pistols, 20.7% rifles
• Production facility location: Dover, NH

2. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 540,223 (18.65% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 5.8% pistols, 23.6% revolvers, 70.6% rifles
• Production facility location: Newport, NH

1. Sig Sauer Inc.

• Firearms manufactured in 2022: 2,346,350 (81.00% of all guns made in state)
• Firearm production by type: 93.2% pistols, 6.1% rifles, 0.6% misc.
• Production facility location: Newington, NH

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