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INDUSTRY NEWS
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INDUSTRY NEWS
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Licensed manufacturers in five states made the |
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Following recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Indianapolis and Boulder, Colorado, President Joe Biden called for gun control reforms, outlining an aggressive gun control agenda against gun violence in the U.S., which he called an "international embarrassment." But Americans are not united on the issue. According to Gallup's annual January survey, which preceded the most recent mass shootings, 56% of Americans say they are dissatisfied with U.S. gun laws and policies while 42% are satisfied with current gun laws. The U.S. has some of the highest rates of gun-related deaths of any developed country, where gun homicide rates are more than 25 times higher than any other high-income nation. In 2019, there were nearly 40,000 firearm-related deaths in the U.S., including suicides and homicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some experts argue that the high rate of gun violence in the U.S. occurs due to the number of firearms available throughout the nation. About 44% of people in the U.S. report living in a household with a gun, according to a November 2020 Gallup poll, which shows "no clear increase or decrease in gun ownership" since it first began tracking the metric in 2007. Firearm production by U.S. licensed manufacturers fell nearly 40% between 2016 and 2019, according to a recent report from USAFacts, with 7 million firearms produced in 2019. Factoring in imports and exports of guns, 2019 saw a net increase of 10.6 million available guns throughout the country. But that number likely does not represent all guns, as there is no reliable data on unlicensed, privately made firearms or "ghost guns," the report says. Based on data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which analyzed five categories of firearm production (pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and others), the report identified the states where most firearms are manufactured. In 2019, New Hampshire accounted for the most firearm production of any state, with 1.2 million guns, followed by Missouri, Florida, North Carolina and Mississippi. Those five states made up more than half of all licensed firearms produced in the country. New Hampshire produced the most rifles, at nearly 328,000, and pistols, with more than 700,000, in 2019, while Florida manufactured the most revolvers: nearly 190,000. Texas produced the most shotguns, at about 191,000, while Mississippi followed closely behind with 188,000. The two states made up 79% of all shotgun production in 2019.
By: Kaia Hubbard
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