Surge in Gun Sales Adds Jobs

When gun sales increase, other things also increase besides the hand-wringing from some segments of the population. CNN reported in April that the surge in gun sales created tens of thousands of jobs in 2015.

The article, published April 18, 2016, says that the gun industry added 24,763 jobs in 2015 for a nationwide total of 287,986. Those numbers represent a 10% increase from the manufacturing and retail jobs in the gun industry for the previous year. The jobs include manufacturing and retail for guns, ammunition and related supplies such as hunting gear.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group located in Newtown, Connecticut, commented that the job growth was “remarkable.” The group also reports that the jobs in the industry have increased 73% since 2008.

These jobs aren’t barely-scraping-by paychecks, either. The article reports that the jobs average just more than $50,000 in wages and benefits. Because many of the jobs are in manufacturing, the factories are often located in smaller towns and more rural areas where the money is sorely needed.

The top states for gun industry jobs are Texas, with about 21,386, followed by California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri. Interestingly, only one of those states, Pennsylvania, is in the top 10 for states with the most adults with gun permits in 2015.

Breitbart reports that the economic gain from these jobs when wages, revenues, benefits and taxes are added up amounts to nearly $50 billion. The industry’s slice of the economic pie grew by about 15% when compared to 2014.

Breitbart also reports that economic records fell on almost a monthly basis, breaking records in June, July and August of last year through March 2016, which the site reports was the 11th consecutive record-breaking month for background checks for gun sales. Black Friday, which is a day that has become known for shopping bargains on the day after Thanksgiving in November, saw a record 185,345 background checks for gun sales performed on that single day alone.

According to the FBI, 23,141,970 background checks were performed in the U.S. during 2015. That number is more than 2,000,000 more checks than the previous record of 21,093,273, set in 2013. How many full-time clerks does it take just to perform these background checks? We hope they’re all pulling in a good wage.