A reader’s guide to gun sales

By Daniel Terrill

Reports on gun sales often follow a tragedy that forces a national debate about gun ownership. When figures are up, they’re interpreted as successful political efforts by pro-gun organizations. When they’re down, the opposite is true. But sometimes results reported are askew or incomplete. They miss the larger patterns that exist or outright misrepresent the numbers.
The goal of this report isn’t to criticize any individual publication. There has been accurate reporting on the gun industry by a variety of outlets as well as misleading reports — whether intentional or not. But rather that put anyone down, the goal is to help readers better consume reporting about gun sales, especially in a political context.
This report takes a deep dive into the data and examines the extended timeline. This article — A Reader’s Guide to Gun Sales — aims to identify these short bursts as well as the annual nature of gun sales.
THE EBB AND FLOW
January gun sales — benefiting from hold offs from Christmastime — are above average for the year, but they climb higher heading into spring. Then, levels begin to descend toward a low point for the year in the summer season. In August, they start upward again and

Source: Guns.com