Brian Sandberg: Historical Perspectives

Gun makers in the United States regularly appeal to American children through advertising campaigns and promotions.

An article by Jordan Weissmann in the Atlantic discusses the importance of gun purchases by hunters in the United States. Weissmann points out that “although they’ve been overshadowed a bit by handgun buyers in recent years, public data suggest that hunters are the backbone of U.S. firearms sales. According IBISWorld, American civilians purchase roughly $7 billion worth of guns and ammunition annually. And although their analysis doesn’t separate money spent by sportsmen from purchases by doomsday preppers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that hunters alone alone spent around $4.3 billion on guns and ammo in 2011.”

Weissmann demonstrates the declining interest in hunting in the United States and the corresponding aging of the hunting population. “In short,” he argues, “when we talk about hunting, we’re talking about a pastime responsible for more than half of retail gun sales. And over the past 20 years, hunting has not fared well. Although their numbers have risen since hitting a trough in 2006, there are around 300,000 fewer Americans stalking deer, cramming themselves into duck blinds, and gunning down turkeys than in 1991, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. As a result, hunters have fallen from more than 7 percent of the population to a bit under 6 percent.”

According to Weissmann, gun manufacturers need to make guns and hunting more popular in order recruit a new generation of domestic customers for their weapons.

This sort of research needs to be compared with data on gun manufacturers’ sales of weapons to civilians abroad, as well as to military organizations.