Thread by @igorvolsky

1/ New Data from @DebAzrael & Dr. Matthew Miller reveals that 3.8 million Americans became first-time gun owners in 2020.

This estimate (from actual researchers) is significantly lower than the numbers the gun industry has been throwing around to juice more gun sales...

@DebAzrael 2/ According to @DebAzrael & Miller:

3.8 M Americans became first-time gun owners in 2020 & made up 23% of all gun buyers last year, up from 17% in 2019.

There were more Black, Hispanic, and female buyers among the first-timers than their prior-gun-owning counterparts.

@DebAzrael 3/ Now, the gun industry's lobby, @NSSF was throwing out *much higher* estimates & in Feb claimed:

8.4 M Americans became first-time gun owners in 2020 & made up 40% of all gun buyers last year

nssf.org/articles/gun-s…

@DebAzrael @NSSF 4/ Okay, so why does this matter?

Throughout 2020, as we saw folks responding to Covid & racial justice protests by panic-buying guns, reporters breathlessly quoted @NSSF in their reports and regurgitated their inflated numbers (mostly w/o question)

@DebAzrael @NSSF 5/ You see, the gun industry & @NSSF have an incentive to inflate estimates of gun purchases (and first time buyers) because it creates the perception that everyone is running out and buying guns and reinforces their false narrative that firearms are essential for safety

@DebAzrael @NSSF 6/ So, while the estimate of 3.8M new purchasers in 2020 from @DebAzrael & Miller is significant and something gun violence prevention advocates have to grapple with, I do hope that reporters no longer take @NSSF's claims at face value.

Doing so, just helps them sell more guns.