The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) revealed Friday there were an estimated 473.2 million firearms in U.S. civilian hands by the end of 2021.
Moreover, according to an NSSF press release, there are 28,144,000 rifles in circulation that fit the Democrat’s “assault weapons” descriptor.
This means there are nearly 30 million AR/AK-style rifles in the U.S.
When looking at all kinds of firearms–rifles, pistols, shotguns, etc.,–including those made overseas and imported into the U.S. for sale, the NSSF pointed out some 21,037,810 firearms were made available for sale in the U.S. during 2021 alone.
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ahawkinsA breakdown of those firearms by category shows “12,799,067 were handguns, 4,832,198 were rifles and 3,406,545 were shotguns.”
The NSSF release is comprised of data drawn from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) reports including the Firearms Commerce in the United States, ATF Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Reports and Congressional Research Service and including the collective ATF Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Report.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a Turning Point USA Ambassador, and a pro-staffer for Sightmark. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
