Almost No States Bought Fewer Firearms than Illinois in 2023

This is probably the least surprising statistic I've seen from 2023, but there's a part of me that's also surprised and I'll explain why. Did you know that almost no states had residents that bought fewer firearms than Illinois last year? The numbers don't lie.

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I like rankings like this because it's based on pure data. No narrative. No opinion swaying the results. Just raw numbers. 24/7 Wall St ranked the states based on the number of firearms purchased. Are you surprised that Illinois is near the bottom of the list?

Here's the criteria they say they used to decide what states were packing heat and which ones weren't:

• Firearm background checks per capita, Jan.-Nov. 2023
• Total firearm background checks, Jan.-Nov. 2022
• Firearm background checks per capita, Jan.-Nov. 2022
• Total firearm background checks, Jan.-Nov. 2022
• Population also factored in

One interesting factoid about that breakdown is Illinois ranked in the upper half of the nation when it comes to background checks.

One reason for my surprise that in 2023 in particular more Illinoisans didn't purchase firearms was due to the looming assault weapons bans and registration deadlines. This is just me theorizing out loud, but I would have thought that those who want/need firearms would get it done before Illinois cracks down harder on those who embrace the 2nd Amendment.