Virginia Gun Sales Nearly Doubled During Obama Years

Fredericksburg.com reports that during Obama's eight years in office, Virginia gun sales almost doubled the number sold during the eight years of President George W. Bush:

Total firearm sales in Virginia during President Barack Obama’s presidency nearly doubled over President George Bush’s years in office, and surpassed a record half-million transactions in 2016 alone, new state data shows.

Estimated firearm sales based on mandatory criminal background checks on Virginia gun buyers totaled 3,153,220 during Obama’s eight years in office ending in 2016, compared with 1,712,607 transactions during the Bush years of 2001-2008, according to an analysis of Virginia Firearm Transaction Center data.

In what a state firearms center official described as a major milestone, the number of transactions reached 505,722 during Obama’s last full year in office in 2016—a 14 percent jump over 2015 and the first time state gun sales topped a half million.

“To double your yearly output in 16 years” is extraordinary, said Mike Matthews, senior supervisor in the Virginia Firearms Transaction Center.

This should come as no surprise given the increased calls for gun control from Obama after the Sandy Hook school shootings. He was for the most part quite on gun control up to that point. What I did notice in the article and think is the real take away is that even during the Bush years, gun sales were steadily increasing, though not as fast as during the Obama years.  The gun ban lobby likes to tell us that the number of Americans owning guns continues to decrease, all the while sales are increasing.  We are supposed to believe that all these new firearms are being purchased by people who already own guns and that no new gun owners are joining the ranks.  Try and tell that to all of the instructors whose classes are full or to the ranges running Women on Target events that fill up.