States Most Dependent on the Gun Industry

With gun sales still in decline since President Donald Trump took office and with the recent Parkland school shooting prompting more debates on the gun industry, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s States Most Dependent on the Gun Industry.

un sales have been down since Donald Trump won the White House. And while that’s good news to some, it could be a bad sign for state economies relying heavily on the firearms industry. By one estimate, guns contributed more than $51 billion to the U.S. economy and generated over $6.5 billion in federal and state taxes in 2017.

But in recent days since the February 14, 2018 Parkland school shooting, some states have considered putting more restrictions on the gun industry. For example, Oregon closed a loophole that previously allowed convicted domestic abusers or stalkers to purchase firearms. The Florida Senate also voted to raise the minimum age to purchase any gun to 21.

To determine the states that depend most heavily on the arms and ammunitions industry both directly for jobs and political contributions and indirectly through firearm ownership, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 16 key metrics. The data set ranges from firearms industry jobs per capita to gun sales per 1,000 residents to gun ownership rate.

Florida’s Dependence on the Gun Industry (1=Most Dependent; 25=Avg.)

• 24^th – Gun Ownership Rate
• 40^th – Firearms-Industry Jobs per Capita
• 20^th – Avg. Firearms-Industry Wages & Benefits
• 38^th – Total Firearms-Industry Output per Capita
• 38^th – Total Taxes Paid by Firearms Industry per Capita
• 31^st – NICS Background Checks per Capita
• 33^rd – Gun-Control Contributions to Congressional Members per Capita
• 36^th – Gun-Rights Contributions to Congressional Members per Capita.