Firearm-related Trends, Updated for 2024
Murders plummeted while assaults held steady. New gun purchasers are disproporationately female and black, but sales are falling. "Constitutional Carry" spreads, but NOLA is back, baby!
7.5 million Americans are estimated to have became first-time gun owners during the years surrounding the pandemic (2019-2021). New gun owners were disproportionately female and black, while existing gun owners who purchased additional firearms were more white and male. Since 2020, (legal & traceable) gun sales have steadily declined.
Despite this, the estimated (legal & voluntarily reported) US household gun ownership rate has remained steady at around 30-32% (within the margin of error) since 2015, according to Gallup. (Most new gun sales are driven by surges in purchasing by people who already own firearms).
As of today, February 26, 2025, 29 U.S. states have permitless concealed carry laws, often referred to as "constitutional carry."
This means that in these states, individuals who are legally allowed to possess a firearm can carry a concealed handgun in public without needing a permit. The trend has been growing over the past two decades, with more than half of U.S. states now embracing this policy. Interestingly, gun sales in Louisiana declined in 2024 despite the adoption of permitless carry in the state. In New Orleans, the murder rate plummeted 75%.
NOLA’s murder decline in 2024 is among the steepest, but overall most cities in the US experienced sizable decreases in firearm fatalities and injuries in 2024 compared to previous years. Most places aren’t back to pre-pandemic levels, but they are headed in the right direction. In 2024, the average Firearm Homicide Rate per 100,000 (7.8) across over 1300 urbanized US communities had fallen 46% compared to 2021, when it peaked at 9.2 per 100k.
The US is awash in guns! Blue states will continue tightening their firearm purchasing, carrying, and ownership regulations, but handguns, which account for the vast majority of firearm fatalities and injuries, will never be banned in this country. Americans must learn to live with firearms. The spike in gun violence during the pandemic was a stark reminder of this. Likewise, large, widespread decreases in gun murders and assaults over the past few years remind us that with vigilance, it’s possible to contain, if not eradicate, this uniquely American problem.