As Gun Sales Slow, Tennessee Still Has Higher Sales Per Capita Than Most States This Year

Image: Inside Dixie Gun Works in Union City, Tennessee

Image Credit: Joe / CC

By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square –

Americans have more guns than anywhere else in the world, and gun sales in the U.S. continue to eclipse those in any other country. This is true both in terms of gun ownership by person and absolute sales. America, without question, is the gun sales and gun ownership capital of the world.

The FBI has tracked gun background checks since the 1990s, and it reports the results in its Firearms Background Check Database. Background check figures, often used as a proxy for gun sales, have risen in most years — and they have risen much faster than the American population has.

Compared to the rest of the world, there are almost 400 million guns in the U.S — 1.2 per person — by far the most among all nations. By contrast, in Canada there are 0.34 guns per person. 

In Tennessee, an estimated 483,700 guns were sold from January through July 2022 based on FBI background check data. Adjusted for population, this is equal to about 71.4 firearm sales for every 1,000 people, the ninth highest gun sale rate among states.

Compared to the same seven-month period in 2021, gun sales have slowed in Tennessee. An estimated 590,500 guns were sold in the state from January through July last year, 18.1% more than there have been this year.