By adding up figures on firearms manufactured in the U.S. and sold domestically with gun imports, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, estimates that U.S. citizens now own 506.1 million guns.
The NSSF calculated this estimate by adding up data from 1990-2023 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
This data also indicates that 32,091,000 AR-type rifles have been put in circulation in the U.S. since 1990. It does show a decrease in the production of these popular semi-automatic rifles by 46.2% from 2022 to 2023. Still, the continued sales of this rifle type increased the estimated amount of these rifles in public hands by 4.5% from 30.7 million to just over 32 million.
Including imports for 2023, some 13,574,653 total firearms were made available for the U.S. market. Of those, 8,176,535 were handguns, 3,899,907 were rifles and 1,498,211 were shotguns. The total domestic firearm production reported in 2023 was 8,466,729—a decrease of 15.4% from 2022 reported figures.
These numbers indicate a dip in production from recent highs, but firearms sales have nevertheless stayed at a new normal in the U.S. For example, NSSF-adjusted FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) indicate there were over 15 million guns sold in the U.S. in 2024. This was a decrease of 3.5% from 2023. Though not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provides a picture of market conditions. In 2020, American gun buying peaked at over 21 million NICS checks that likely reflected sales.
