gun sales

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Visa Delivers Big Win to Gun Control Advocates

Payment processor will start categorizing gun shop sales

(Newser) - Payment processor Visa Inc. said Saturday that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops, a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting. But the decision by Visa,...

Among First-Time Gun Buyers, a Gender Shift

Since 2019, roughly half have been women

(Newser) - Social unrest and the pandemic appear to have achieved what decades of marketing campaigns from gun companies failed to do. A new study has found that almost half of all first-time gun buyers since the start of 2019 are women, the Wall Street Journal reports. Gun sales soared during the...

In 2020, Background Checks Blocked Most Gun Sales Ever

As firearm sales surged in US

(Newser) - The number of people stopped from buying guns through the US background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. The FBI numbers provided to the AP...

Gun Sales Soared During Pandemic Lockdowns

Experts worry the spike will lead to more gun violence

(Newser) - When the lockdowns started, gun sales boomed in the US. Lockdowns are now easing across the country as more get vaccinated for COVID-19, but gun sales are still booming, according to Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis. Looking at federal...

Suspect in Boulder Shootings Passed Background Check

Owner says his shop then sold the defendant a weapon last week

(Newser) - The suspect in the Boulder mass shooting cleared the required background check before buying a gun last week at a Colorado shop, the store's owner said. The state Bureau of Investigation then approved the sale, the Denver Post reports. "We are absolutely shocked by what happened, and our...

2020 Has Seen a Slew of Gun-Related Records

FBI has run more background checks in 2020 than in any other year

(Newser) - As the election neared and the pandemic remained, Americans moved to buy—or stockpile—firearms in record numbers. The FBI conducted more than 1.7 million background checks for gun purchases last month, and Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting estimated that guns sales jumped 65% from October 2019, to 1....

Walmart Limits Ammo Sales, Makes Request of Customers

Chain doesn't want shoppers openly carrying weapons, even where it's legal

(Newser) - Walmart is taking a step back from gun-related sales. The chain will discontinue the sale of ammunition for handguns and assault-style weapons—and will request that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in stores even where state laws allow it. The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed...

Dick's Took a Stand on Guns. It Cost $150M

A year after moving to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, CEO takes stock of the cost

(Newser) - After the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., a year ago, it emerged that the alleged shooter had legally purchased a gun from Dick's Sporting Goods; a day after his arrest, a Vermont teen was arrested over alleged plans for a shooting spree at his school. He, too, had legally...

A Dick's Nix: No More Hunting Rifles, Ammo at 125 Stores

Retailer says the hunting gear hasn't been selling well at those locations

(Newser) - Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. said on Tuesday it will stop selling hunting rifles and ammunition at more than 100 of its stores, replacing the gear with merchandise it believes will sell better at those locations, per the AP . CEO Edward Stack said the move comes after the sporting goods...

Black Friday Broke Background-Check Record

The previous record was set last year

(Newser) - On Black Friday this year, American shoppers may have bought record numbers of a perennial favorite: guns. The FBI says it had 203,086 requests for background checks on Friday, smashing the previous single-day record of 185,713, which was set on Black Friday last year, USA Today reports. The...

Think Tracing a Gun Is Easy? You Watch Too Much TV
US Gun-Tracing Center
Isn't Computerized, by Law
in case you missed it

US Gun-Tracing Center Isn't Computerized, by Law

GQ takes a look at analog-era federal facility

(Newser) - Welcome to the National Tracing Center, the ATF-run facility that handles every request for a gun trace that comes in to the feds. Picturing a modern office building with computers spitting out owners' names? Allow Jeanne Marie Laskas at GQ to bust that image. The NTC is housed "in...

Kalashnikov Now Makes Drones, Boats, Clothing

US sanctions have forced a new business strategy

(Newser) - Get ready to see the Kalashnikov name on everything from drones and motorboats to menswear. Just three years ago, 40% of the Russian company's gun sales came from the US. Then in 2014, Russia was hit with US sanctions that put Kalashnikov $5.2 million in the red and...

Facebook Tries to Stamp Out Gun Sales

People had been using site to dodge background checks

(Newser) - Facebook left the NRA scrambling to find the "dislike" button on Friday when it announced a major crackdown on gun sales. The move, which also applies to Instagram, bans users from advertising or selling guns in person-to-person sales, reports Reuters . Licensed gun dealers and clubs can still advertise on...

Black Friday Broke Gun Sales Record

FBI dealt with more than 185K background checks

(Newser) - This year's Black Friday wasn't just the biggest sales day of the year, it was the biggest gun sales day in history, according to FBI data on background checks, which is seen as the best measure available for US gun sales. The agency says the National Instant Criminal...

Man Sells Gun, Then Is Killed With It
Man Sells Gun,
Then Is Killed With It
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Man Sells Gun, Then Is Killed With It

Suspect was banned from owning firearms

(Newser) - An Arizona teenager who illegally sold a gun to a man barred from owning firearms ended up getting shot dead with it during what police believe was an argument over another gun. Police say Tyrone Moore, 24, killed 18-year-old Elijah Williams in Glendale with a gun he had recently bought...

Gun Permit Requests Soar In Newtown

Residents react to strict Connecticut gun laws

(Newser) - Residents of Newtown, Conn., haven't exactly shied away from guns since the Sandy Hook massacre , reports Yahoo . Newtown police already have a stack of 209 gun permit requests, exceeding last year's 171 requests and more than doubling the 99 requests from 2011. But the horrendous massacre last year—...

Sell Handguns to Teens? NRA Is Wrong on This One

Bloomberg View editors: Supreme Court should reject NRA petition

(Newser) - The NRA wants people between the ages of 18 and 21 to have an easier time buying handguns, but "restrictions on youthful gun ownership already seem pretty porous," write the editors of Bloomberg View . In a recent petition to the US Supreme Court, the NRA asks that a...

Gun Store to Mark Kelly: No AR-15 Purchase for You

Sends him refund, won't give him firearm

(Newser) - Well, so much for that: Mark Kelly recently went to an Arizona gun store to buy an AR-15, his goal being to show how easy it is to procure one ... but now the gun store won't give it to him. After buying the gun, Kelly told CNN , "It...

New York Gun Dealers Agree to Gun Show Sales Rules

New regulations designed to prevent sales without background checks

(Newser) - The 23 operators responsible for more than 80% of gun show firearm sales in New York state have agreed to protocols to ensure buyers get criminal and mental health background checks, reports the New York Times . Under the new system, all guns brought into gun shows will be tagged with...

Walmart: OK, OK, We'll Meet With Biden on Guns

Retailer initially declined invitation to gun safety talks

(Newser) - Meetings of Joe Biden's gun control task force start this week, and Walmart made headlines right off when it initially declined to attend. The retailer—the largest seller of guns and ammo in the nation—apparently couldn't find anyone in its huge organization who could make it to...

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