How Texas gun sales in 2022 compare to the rest of the country

Arms sales are estimated to have risen to 39,695,315 in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since then, they have declined annually to 38,876,673 in 2021 and to 31,596,646 in 2022. However, these numbers remain higher than before the pandemic.

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system publishes a monthly list of how many firearm checks are conducted on potential gun buyers. Almost everyone who has gone through this system meets the requirements. Of more than 400 million checks carried out since November 1998, only 2.1 million have been rejected. More than half of those who are denied have a criminal record.

Adjusted for population in 2022, there were 94.8 background checks per 1,000 people across the country. Per capita background check data varies considerably by state.

In Texas, there were 1,732,651 background checks based on FBI data in 2022. Adjusted for population, this equates to about 57.7 firearms background checks for every 1,000 people, the 14th lowest among states.

Estimated per capita gun sales in the state in 2021, as approximated by background checks, was 1,980,753, or about 66.0 per person, compared to a national rate of 116.6 per 1,000 people.

The population data used to calculate per capita background checks is from the US Census Bureau’s Population and Housing Estimation Program and is as of July 2022. It is important to note that in some states, the rechecks of some firearms permits require that the total number of background checks used to create this ranking be affected.