Emotions are running high in the US following a recent spate of violence at home and abroad. The gun debate, as exhausting as it has been, continues to rage on. Data shows us that the percent of total households who claim to have a gun has been declining, down to 36% in June from 53% back in January 1994.

At the same time, we have been witnessing YoY increases to the number of FBI background checks, aka NICS. Even though some polls show ownership rates are declining, it's not surprise to see gun sales increasing. As we have covered in prior posts, using the FBI background checks - or NICS as they are known - we can reasonably deduce the demand for weapons in the US (excusing the fact that the dataset is incomplete given that we cannot track private gun sales which account for a material amount of overall sales).

We have an increase of repeat buyers. And this cycle only grows as each violent event brings about increased government chatter of more regulation which then sparks fear in gun-owners and results in a spike in background checks and typically boosts sales.

This morning Bloomberg noted the surge in background checks following the Orlando nightclub shooting:

They also supplied an annotated chart of seasonally adjusted background checks:

The rub here lies within education and maintenance of self-defense awareness. In 2015 IBIS published a report on shooting ranges in the US. Oddly, the areas with a greater concentration of shooting ranges relative to the population concentration in that region there was a lower degree of gun-related violence.

The following image shows regional concentration in percent of the total population of Establishments (shooting ranges) and the US population.

The southeast has roughly 25% of the US population concentrated there but only about 22% of the total Establishment (shooting range) population in the US is located in that same region. New England, Plains, Rocky Mountains all have a greater concentration of the total Establishments (shooting ranges) relative to their overall concentration of the US population.

Compared that with the next chart from the LA Times, one wonders if proper gun-owner education is what we should all be discussing since the areas with a higher human population and lower relative shooting range population appear have a higher level of gun violence:

It is not as if the ranges lack use either. Shooting ranges bring in about $1.3 billion in revenue annually and there are about 2100 businesses operating. Those are locations where education should and often does take place. People are influenced by other responsible gun-owners and safety always comes first. These are the places on the corner of your neighborhood near the county thruway maybe or in the commercial district just minutes away from a neighborhood. Amid swelling gun interest and sales, we have a way to not only control the upside insanity to what is legally allowed to be sold, but also have a way to work with those already packing heat and can help promote intelligent self-defense if only the current population of localized shooting ranges could be used more efficiently.