30 Million U.S. Adults Acquired Firearms -- 11 Million for First Time -- From 2021 to 2024

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter Medically reviewed by Drugs.com MONDAY, March 23, 2026 -- Nearly 30 million U.S. adults acquired firearms between 2021 and 2024, including more than 11 million people who became gun owners for the first time, according to a study published online March 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Matthew Miller, M.D., Sc.D., from Northeastern University in Boston, and colleagues estimated the number of adults who acquired firearms since Jan. 1, 2021, how many were new owners, and how many other people they newly exposed to household firearms. The analysis included survey responses from 4,059 firearm owners collected in December 2024. The researchers report that an estimated 29.8 million adults acquired firearms from 2021 to 2024, with 11.2 million adults becoming new gun owners (4.2 percent of U.S. adults). The annual number of new owners declined each year, from 3.6 million in 2021 to 1.9 million by 2024. New owners included women (46.3 percent) and Hispanic people and/or people of color (46.1 percent). An estimated 7.8 million people lived in a household without firearms at the time of their earliest purchase, newly exposing 9.0 million other adults and 6.6 million children to household firearms. "The risk for violent death has likely increased substantially for millions of Americans who became new gun owners and for millions of other adults and children who were newly exposed to the risks of living in households with guns," the authors write. Abstract/Full Text Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions. More news resources * FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts * Daily MedNews * News for Health Professionals * New Drug Approvals * New Drug Applications * Drug Shortages * Clinical Trial Results * Generic Drug Approvals * Drugs.com Podcast Subscribe to our newsletter Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.