ATF releases 2017 Report on Firearm Commerce in the United States (Numbers, Bar Graphs, and Pie Charts!)

ATF has released its annual Firearms Commerce in the United States Statistical Update for 2017. As my one friend put it, “[t]his is like fantasy football stats for silencer dorks.” It’s actually like that for a lot more than the silencer crowd, but I digress.

The Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Report (AFMER) is only current through 2015. This is because AFMER data is not published until one year after the close of a calendar reporting year because the information provided by those whole filed a report is protected from immediate disclosure by the Trade Secrets Act. Which is why you see a two year lag (2015 data reporting in the beginning of 2016 and a year delay between its reporting and publication).

In 2015, there were a total of 9,358,661 firearms manufactured. This was up from 2014’s number of 9,050,626 by about 3.3%. Interestingly the number of exports fell by about 20%, from 420,932 in 2014 down to 343,456.

The total number of imports rose from 3,930,211 in 2015 to 5,137,771 in 2016 (imports are not included not the AFMER report which is why the numbers are more current). Interestingly, it was handguns that account for a little over 1.2 million more firearms imported in 2016. And as you may have guessed Austria leads the charge with handguns imported, accounting for over 1.3 million coming into the country. Probably a safe bet that Glock is responsible for the majority of those.

For those of you NFA junkies, in 2016, there was $6,018,000 in occupational taxes paid (SOTs). This is up again from the year prior and slightly under double that of 2012. Taxes paid were $62,596,000 for 2016, almost double the year before (thanks ATF 41F). Interestingly, there were 6,547 record checks, which means that ATF searched the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR) that many times to determine if a firearm was possessed lawfully or if the transfer was performed lawfully.

In 2016, there were 49,985 Form 1s and 133,911 Form 4s filed. These numbers were up from the year prior, but not by a significant margin for the Form 4s (Form 1s were up by about 17,000). While the number of forms process by the NFA Branch was up about a million from the year prior, it was the Form 2s that accounted for almost half of that number. For those that are unaware, Form 2s are used by industry to give notice to ATF that they produced or imported a NFA firearm.

As far as NFA firearms registered by state, Texas leads with 588,696. California follows with 344,622. Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania round out the top 5. Interestingly, Connecticut leads the charge with registered machine guns, sitting at 52,965. However, when you consider law enforcement, it starts to make sense.

There are currently 57,345 licensed collectors of curios or relics, making it the most popular license type. It is followed closely by dealer in firearms, of which there are 56,754 active licenses. ATF reports 137,464 active licenses. Texas holds 10,954 of those licenses, making it the state with the most.

In 2016, 16 license applications were denied. This number is down almost 50% from the year prior. As for compliance inspections, ATF performed 9,790 last year. This equates to 7.1% of all licensees in 2016 being inspected.

As always, the annual report helps give some insight as to ongoings within the firearms industry.

 

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