Gun ownership has been a staple of traditional American life since the inception of the country, and even long before then. Some Americans use guns only to go hunting, for sport, or home protection, but there are many gun enthusiasts who embrace the Second Amendment and load up on as many firearms as they can. Whether it is one gun or 20, selling guns in the United States is a lucrative business.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates that Americans bought roughly 18.5 million firearms in 2021, the second most ever in a year and down only slightly from the record-high 21 million in 2020.

With these back-to-back years of historic gun sales, someone is profiting big, including some states.

Both directly and indirectly, the firearms sector accounts for a total of 9,045 jobs in Georgia – 3,869 in firearm and ammunition manufacturing, sales, and distribution, and another 5,176 in supplier and ancillary industries – the 15th most among the 50 states.

TOO MANY ADS? GO AD-FREE
Did You Know?: The ads you see on this site help pay for our website and our work. However, we know some of our readers would rather pay and not see ads. For those users we offer a paid newsletter that contains our articles with no ads.
What You Get: A daily email digest of our articles in full-text with no ads.

The gun industry in Georgia paid an average wage of $52,865 in 2021 and generated an estimated $99.4 million in federal business tax revenue that year.

When accounting for wages and taxes as well as indirect contributions, the firearms industry contributed to $1.8 billion in output in Georgia in 2021, the 16th highest amount among states.

All data in this story is from the Shooting Sports Foundation’s Firearm and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact report.

Rank	State	Total gun industry output, direct & indirect; 2021 ($B)	Total industry employment, direct & indirect; 2021	Average industry wage ($)	Industry fed. business tax generation; 2021 ($M)
1	Texas	5.59	31,632	51,652	330.7
2	California	5.22	29,082	66,095	380.7
3	Florida	3.46	22,332	49,847	259.7
4	Illinois	2.86	13,051	63,913	183.9
5	Massachusetts	2.85	10,151	74,899	192.6
6	Minnesota	2.78	11,680	69,400	211.0
7	New Hampshire	2.72	9,950	70,698	203.3
8	Pennsylvania	2.67	18,891	52,165	193.6
9	New York	2.54	10,150	85,432	155.8
10	Arkansas	2.53	10,426	49,263	127.1
11	North Carolina	2.51	13,017	54,571	160.3
12	Ohio	2.37	15,256	50,652	147.1
13	Arizona	2.33	11,933	61,243	180.2
14	Michigan	1.88	11,759	52,206	123.6
15	Oregon	1.78	8,952	59,541	134.5
16	Georgia	1.78	9,045	52,865	99.4