This article is from the archive of our partner .

Assault rifle sales in the United States are dropping, Bloomberg reported.

According to the news outlet, requests for criminal background checks, which is a leading indicator of gun purchases, dropped 3.8 percent between 2013 and 2014. Meanwhile sales from the popular gun maker Smith & Wesson fell 23 percent last quarter, while other manufacturers like Sturm, Ruger & Co. saw similar drop offs.

So what's for the sudden decline in gun sales? Have guns become less popular?

Ironically, the decline is likely a sign that gun legislation is dead in Congress, or at least, the fear of it is.

Jim Hornsby, the owner of a gun store outside Atlanta told Bloomberg that people are no longer as worried that the federal government is coming after their firearms. Even when a 9-year-old has an Uzi.

"Assault-rifle sales stopped in their tracks,” Hornsby said. "There’s not an immediate fear the government’s going to take them away."

The original spike in gun sales began shortly after President Obama was elected amid fears that the new administration would try to institute new gun restrictions. In 2009, during the heart of the recession, American gun sales continued to soar as many citizens remained worried about the election of a new Democratic President.