It’s Not Just Virginia Seeing Rise in Gun Sales

Last week, Cam wrote about the surge in gun sales in Virginia. Considering just how much Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the anti-gun cabal that runs the state hate the right to keep and bear arms, that’s unsurprising. People want to get their guns before the law makes some of that impossible.

But it bears mentioning that it’s not just Virginia that saw an increase in gun sales. 

It’s the entire United States that saw it.

When background checks for gun sales dipped below 1 million last July, anti-gun advocates sighed with relief. The nearly six-year-long streak had come to an end, and gun-banners were hopeful it would usher in a new era of lower gun sales.

Judging by the latest March numbers, those hopes were false.

The March National Shooting Sports Foundation-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,412,917 is a 1.9% increase from the 1,386,724 in March 2025. It is also a 13% increase over the February total. For comparison, the unadjusted March 2026 FBI NICS figure of 2,212,094 reflects a 10.5% decrease from the unadjusted March 2025 figure of 2,470,705.

The latest monthly total of over 1 million monthly gun sales in March marked the eighth consecutive month with more than 1 million background checks, after the single month in July 2025 with fewer than 1 million.

“March’s Adjusted NICS figure of over 1.4 million checks for the sale of a firearm represents a healthy and steady growth in the interest of Americans to freely exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Oliva said.

Oliva noted that most of that was driven by Virginia because, well, Virginia. When people suddenly see their gun rights stripped away, even in part, they start buying stuff they’d been putting off. After all, “now or never” can be a strong motivator.

The firearms industry appreciates the anti-gun leadership of Virginia’s efforts in increasing firearm sales in the Old Dominion State, I’m sure. If only they’d stop there and not screw everything else up like they’re doing.

I’m glad to see gun sales surging once again. A robust firearm industry is essential for the right to keep and bear arms, if for no other reason than most people really aren’t mechanically inclined enough to try and build their own firearms. We need access to arms if we’re to have the ability to keep and bear them.

That’s something the First Circuit should keep in mind.

But even if the government doesn’t destroy the industry, apathy toward firearms can do it just as easily. Sure, there’s no risk of that happening in the short term, but the buggy whip industry didn’t just vanish overnight. Neither did video rental stores. Guns wouldn’t, either.

Luckily, Americans love our guns, so there’s little risk of that happening in the long term, either, but it’s still nice to see an uptick in sales. Especially since the anti-gunners swooned over the first dip below a million in years. If it gives them fits, it can’t be all bad, now can it?

It’ll be interesting to see what the coming months do with regard to gun sales. With terrorist attacks on the rise, I suspect we’ll see more of the same, at least until Iran is neutered.

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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