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One-fifth of U.S. households purchased guns during the pandemic, a national arming that exposed more than 15 million Americans to firearms in the home for the first time, academic studies show. 

Americans purchased nearly 60 million guns between 2020 and 2022, according to an analysis by The Trace, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that tracks gun violence. Yearly gun sales are running at roughly twice the level of 15 or 20 years ago.  

All the new weapons may be fueling a historic surge in gun deaths, which reached record highs during the same period.  

“It’s a totally different type of gun ownership now,” said John Roman, a senior fellow in the Economics, Justice and Society Group at NORC, a research organization based at the University of Chicago.  

“It’s not a rifle stored away somewhere that you take out twice a year to go hunting. It’s a handgun, probably a semiautomatic handgun, that you keep in your bedside table or in your glove compartment, or that you maybe carry around with you.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a run on gun shops, part of a larger national spasm of panic-buying that gripped the country at a moment when many Americans thought society might collapse.  

“There was fear, and real concern, about what happens to the country during a global pandemic,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control nonprofit.  

The National Rifle Association fanned that fear, Suplina said, by tweeting out a video of a woman holding a rifle and pushing firearms as a pandemic safety measure.  

“You might be stockpiling up on food right now to get through this current crisis,” the woman says. “But if you aren’t preparing to defend your property when everything goes wrong, you’re really just stockpiling for somebody else.”  

Between March 2020 and March 2022, 18 percent of households bought guns, according to a NORC survey.  

Pandemic gun sales raised the share of Americans living in armed homes to 46 percent, up from 32 percent in 2010.  

“Five percent of Americans said they bought a gun for the first time during the pandemic, which is a huge number,” Roman said. “Those buyers were younger, they were more likely to be renters, they were more likely to be women, they were more likely to be people of color.” 

A scholarly study found that 7.5 million Americans became new gun owners between 2019 and 2021. Those purchases exposed 17 million Americans to household firearms for the first time, a figure that includes 5 million children.  

The study found that many Americans who already owned guns, nearly 20 million, bought more. 

“Most people say, ‘I bought the gun to protect myself and my family against home invasion,’” said Matthew Miller, professor of health sciences and epidemiology at Northeastern University and one of the report’s authors. “But that doesn’t explain why most of the guns that were bought during this time period were bought by people who already owned guns.” 

The pandemic accelerated a rise in gun ownership that began around 2005, the year Congress passed a law that largely shielded gun manufacturers from liability when their products are used in crimes. 

That law set off a new era of emboldened advertising by gun makers, who marketed firearms as an essential tool for defending the American home.  

“This is to protect yourself against your fellow humans,” Roman said, “with the implication being that your fellow humans are getting increasingly dangerous. Which is ironic, of course,” because violent crime stood at a low ebb after the turn of the millennium. 

Gun sales rose further with the 2008 election of former President Obama, partly from fears “that the government was going to shut down gun purchases,” said Eric Fleegler, an associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies gun violence. 

FBI background checks for firearm sales more than doubled in a decade, from 9 million in 2005 to 23 million in 2015. Five years later, in pandemic-scarred 2020, the bureau conducted nearly 40 million background checks.  

Gun sales have retreated since then. But the FBI logged 8 million background checks through March, presaging a yearend total of at least 30 million for 2023. 

Background checks are an imprecise measure of gun sales, because they include sales of multiple weapons and concealed-carry permits for guns already owned, among other complexities.  

Using background checks and other data, The Trace estimates that gun sales almost tripled between 2005 and 2020, from 7.8 million to 21.8 million. Firearm sales eased to 18.9 million in 2021 and 16.6 million in 2022. All three figures are larger than the gun-sale total for any other year in the new millennium.  

“Clearly, there has been a stark increase in gun purchases, and I think a lot of these folks are new,” said Christian Heyne, vice president of policy and programs at Brady, the gun-control nonprofit. 

“And I think it’s incumbent upon us to make sure that all gun owners make sure they understand the responsibility they have to safely store these weapons, and to understand the risk that is associated with having the firearm in the home in the first place.” 

With the nation awash in firearms, gun deaths are rising anew. Research by Fleegler and colleagues found that firearm fatality rates increased by nearly half between 2004 and 2021.  

More Americans died from gun violence in 2020 and 2021 than in any prior year on record. Gun-related homicides and suicides totaled 48,830 in 2021. Shootings of children nearly doubled during the pandemic.  

“There are no two years in recorded history that I’m familiar with, going back to the 1980s, that you see such a dramatic increase” in such a short span, Fleegler said. 

The nation also endured a record number of mass shootings in 2021: 690 incidents in which four or more people were shot. The Gun Violence Archive tallied 646 mass shootings in 2022.  

The link between rising gun ownership and rising gun violence is hard to prove. Yet, “gun ownership rates track very closely to gun fatalities,” Fleegler said. “If you want to know where people are dying by guns, look where the guns are.” 

Guns are most common in the South and least prevalent in the Northeast, a 2021 Pew analysis found. Firearms sit in around half of rural homes, two-fifths of suburban homes and 30 percent of urban dwellings, and in 40 percent of all American households.  

Researchers envision a return to an era when firearms sat in half of American homes. Five decades of NORC surveys show a peak of gun ownership in 1977, when exactly 50 percent of households held guns.   Supreme Court abortion pill ruling: Four ways it could go, and what it would mean Electric vehicle policies inflame Manchin-Biden tensions

Nearly one-third of Americans hunted in 1977. Hunting declined over the decades, and gun ownership reached a low ebb around 2010.  

Estimates vary on how many guns are circulating today in the United States, but most sources suggest guns outnumber Americans. 

“There’s enthusiasts, survivalists, collectors,” Heyne said. “I think somewhere around 3 percent of the U.S. population possesses more than half of the guns in the country.”

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Politics

DeFi booming as $11B Bitcoin whale stirs ‘Uptober’ hopes: Finance Redefined

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October 10, 2025

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DeFi booming as B Bitcoin whale stirs ‘Uptober’ hopes: Finance Redefined

DeFi booming as B Bitcoin whale stirs ‘Uptober’ hopes: Finance Redefined

An $11 billion Bitcoin whale returned to crypto markets this week, likely seeking trading opportunities tied to October’s historic crypto rallies and uncertainty in the US.

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Environment

Hiboy launches TITAN & TITAN Pro e-scooters with up to $699 savings, Anker SOLIX F3000 station at new $1,399 low, more

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October 10, 2025

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Hiboy launches TITAN & TITAN Pro e-scooters with up to 9 savings, Anker SOLIX F3000 station at new ,399 low, more


We’re closing out this week’s Green Deals with some more major savings, headlined by Hiboy’s new TITAN Electric Scooter and TITAN Pro Electric Scooter, which are launching with up to $699 in savings starting from $1,001. Right behind them is Anker’s SOLIX F3000 Portable Power Station (and bundles) that is getting its $1,399 Prime Day low extended, as well as Mammotion’s YUKA Mini 500H and 700H robot lawn mowers starting from a $649 low. We also have EcoFlow’s latest 48-hour flash sale, a handy device from Goal Zero, and many other ongoing Prime Day sales waiting for you below – with all the continuing event’s savings collected into our Post-Prime Day Green Deals hub here.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Hiboy launches new TITAN and TITAN Pro e-scooters with an up to 80-mile range, now starting from $1,001 (Up to $699 off)

As part of Hiboy’s ongoing Better Than Prime Day Sale, the brand has launched two new e-scooters that bring some serious power to commutes and joyrides, complete with bonus savings. You can now hop on Hiboy’s TITAN Electric Scooter at $1,001 shipped, after using the code HST9 at checkout for an additional 9% off, while Hiboy’s TITAN Pro Electric Scooter is down at $1,350 shipped, after using the code HSTP10 at check out for an additional 10% off. These two new models will carry full $1,700 and $2,000 price tags once the initial launch savings end, making this deal all the more enticing. While things last, you’re looking at $699 and $650 markdowns that save you some serious cash on some seriously powerful rides, while also setting the bar for future discounts down the road. You’ll find both these deals coming several hundred dollars under the TITAN and TITAN Pro Amazon pricing.

With these two new releases, Hiboy is showing folks just how fast and wild their e-scooters can get, with many often falling into the more budget-friendly realm. Things start with Hiboy’s TITAN electric scooter that arrives in futuristic industrial style, equipped with a 750W (1,000W peaking) motor and 48V 18Ah battery that provides up to 46 miles of travel at up to 25 MPH top speeds. Among its many features, you’ll find a dual suspension system, dual hydraulic brakes, 10-inch gel-filled tubeless tires, a wider-than-normal deck, zero-start capabilities and a half-twist throttle, a loud horn, dual headlights, a brake-activated taillight, ambient side lighting, a 3.5-inch LED color display, and more.

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On the other end of the series is the TITAN Pro e-scooter that brings more power and speed along for the ride. This supped-up model has been given dual 750W motors (each peaking at 1,000W) and a 48V 36Ah battery that not only ramps its possible top speeds up to 31 MPH, but also extends travel times up to 80 miles on a single charge. It brings along much of the same features as its base TITAN counterpart, with the main difference being the additional multi-function control buttons that allow you to switch between single and dual motor usage.

Hiboy’s Better Than Prime Sale will continue through October 12, giving you plenty of time to make decisions if you’re split between varying models – with prices starting from $320.

refrigerator open behind anker solix f3000 portable power station

Anker’s extended Prime Day savings offer latest SOLIX F3000 station and bundles at new lows starting from $1,399

As part of Anker’s extended SOLIX Prime Day Sale, which is continuing through the rest of the week, you can still score the brand’s latest F3000 Portable Power Station (and bundles) at their best prices starting from $1,399 shipped for the station with a FREE protective cover (valued at $99), beating out Amazon’s post-Prime pricing by $100. It carries a $2,599 MSRP since releasing back in June, which we saw drop down to this rate for the first time on Tuesday, when Prime Day officially began. It’s now continuing through the rest of the week, giving you more time to jump on the $1,200 price cut and score it at the best price we have tracked. Head below for the full lineup of ongoing bundle deals too.

If you want to learn more about this new power station, be sure to check out our original coverage of this deal here.

man and daughter plant tree while Mammotion YUKA mini robotic lawn mower mows grass around them

Mammotion’s YUKA Mini 500H and 700H robotic lawn mowers get $350 price cuts starting from a $649 low

By way of its official Amazon storefront, Mammotion is offering continued Prime Day savings on its YUKA Mini 500H Robotic Lawn Mower at $649 shipped, as well as its YUKA Mini 700H Robotic Lawn Mower at $849 shipped. These two models usually fetch $999 and $1,199 at full price, with this being the second-ever price cut to the YUKA Mini 500H’s all-time low with $350 cut from its tag, while the YUKA Mini 700H is getting the same sized price cut to its second-lowest rate – landing $100 above the one-time low that lasted only three days in September.

If you want to learn more about these two robots, be sure to check out our original coverage of these deals here.

ecoflow 800W alternator charger connected to power station in SUV with smart controls on phone

EcoFlow 48-hour flash sale drops 800W alternator charger to new $289 low, more from $104

As part of its extended Prime Day Sale, EcoFlow is offering a 48-hour flash sale on a power station, a generator, an alternator charger, and a DELTA Pro Ultra expansion battery bundle. The backup power solution amongst the bunch is the TRAIL 200 DC station, which you can score starting from $104 by checking out yesterday’s coverage. From there, it’s a matter of what kind of support or expansion you want to jump on, with the brand’s 800W Alternator Charger sitting at a lower-than-ever $289 shipped, for example, which also matches at Amazon right now. While it carries a $599 MSRP, we more often see it priced between $348 and $499, with some sales taking things lower. It was priced at $305 for the initial Prime Day savings, but is now falling even further to mark a new all-time low price and give you $210 off the going rate. Head below for the full lineup of flash deals.

If you want to learn more about this on-the-go charging solution, as well as the other offers, be sure to check out our original coverage of these 48-hour flash deals here.

man using goal zero torch light to see under hood of car

Goal Zero’s 500 Lumen Torch Light that doubles as a solar-charging 5,200mAh power bank hits $38

Amazon is offering the Goal Zero 500 Lumen Torch Light at $37.89 shipped. Usually fetching $50 outside of discounts, this device dropped to $40 back April, with discounts since returning the costs to this same rate over the rest of the year – including for both July and this month’s Prime Day events. The savings seem to be sticking around after the event ended last night, giving you extra time to pick it up with $12 shaved from the tag at the best price of the year.

If you want to learn more about this handy solar-charging gadget, be sure to check out our original coverage of this deal here.

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Best Fall EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.


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Technology

Govini, a defense tech startup taking on Palantir, hits $100 million in annual recurring revenue

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October 10, 2025

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Govini, a defense tech startup taking on Palantir, hits 0 million in annual recurring revenue

Govini, a defense tech software startup taking on the likes of Palantir, has blown past $100 million in annual recurring revenue, the company announced Friday.

“We’re growing faster than 100% in a three-year CAGR, and I expect that next year we’ll continue to do the same,” CEO Tara Murphy Dougherty told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan in an interview. With how “big this market is, we can keep growing for a long, long time, and that’s really exciting.”

CAGR stands for compound annual growth rate, a measurement of the rate of return.

The Arlington, Virginia-based company also announced a $150 million growth investment from Bain Capital. It plans to use the money to expand its team and product offering to satisfy growing security demands.

In recent years, venture capitalists have poured more money into defense tech startups like Govini to satisfy heightened national security concerns and modernize the military as global conflict ensues.

The group, which includes unicorns like Palmer Luckey’s Anduril, Shield AI and artificial intelligence beneficiary Palantir, is taking on legacy giants such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, that have long leaned on contracts from the Pentagon.

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Dougherty, who previously worked at Palantir, said she hopes the company can seize a “vertical slice” of the defense technology space.

The 14-year-old Govini has already secured a string of big wins in recent years, including an over $900-million U.S. government contract and deals with the Department of War.

Govini is known for its flagship AI software Ark, which it says can help modernize the military’s defense tech supply chain by better managing product lifecycles as military needs grow more sophisticated.

“If the United States can get this acquisition system right, it can actually be a decisive advantage for us,” Dougherty said.

Looking ahead, Dougherty told CNBC that she anticipates some setbacks from the government shutdown.

Navy customers could be particularly hard hit, and that could put the U.S. at a major disadvantage.

While the U.S. is maintaining its AI dominance, China is outpacing its shipbuilding capacity and that needs to be taken “very seriously,” she added.

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