The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has reported that the FBI completed 530,156 background checks for firearms — a rough proxy for sales — the week of Thanksgiving, including 165,183 on Black Friday alone. According to the NSSF, “Annual background check data shows that firearm sales will typically rise during the final months of the year coinciding with hunting seasons and holiday sales.”
However, gun sales have plummeted in the second Trump administration, and the NSSF noted that the total background checks for Thanksgiving week represent a “13.6 percent decrease from the 2024 figure.” The gun industry is also facing additional pressure due to tariffs.
Email Marketing to Bolster Gun Sales
As in years past, gun makers and dealers resorted to Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales promotions to bolster their profits. One method for delivering these promotions: email blasts that pepper potential customers, like the kind shown below. This Black Friday, Bushmaster Firearms, known for producing the AR-15s used in the mass shootings in Newtown and Buffalo, sent a marketing email announcing sales while depicting a turkey armed with one such rifle.
A recent Trace and Rolling Stone report explained how gun companies use email marketing to “turn gun buying into a habit.” According to the report, during a May 2024 webinar to NSSF members, the digital marketing director for Guns.com urged gun makers and dealers to rely on mass marketing emails for “big holiday promotion[s],” such as Black Friday sales, for higher “open rates, click-through rates, [and] conversion rates.”
GrabAGun, an online gun retailer backed by Donald Trump Jr., sent out several email blasts over the holiday weekend promoting sales, including the examples shown below.
Capturing Sales with Targeted Emails
During his presentation to NSSF members, the Guns.com marketing director reportedly advised gun companies to take a more targeted approach using “[p]rograms that automatically send emails based off customers [sic] experiences on your website.” He noted, “If someone searches a product page one step before adding to the cart, you would want to target them” with a follow-up email. Similarly, he stressed that if someone abandons their shopping cart before completing a purchase, they should receive more emails to “win back” the sale.
According to The Trace and Rolling Stone, the presentation included “three examples of automated emails, all playing up the notion of scarcity, which taps into a gun industry-stoked phenomenon referred to by industry officials as ‘panic buying.’”
This Black Friday, Guns.com sent out several email blasts, including one warning viewers to “act fast!” before products sold out.
Continuing a Toxic Marketing Trend
Along with email blasts, gun companies also took to social media to announce steep Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts on firearms, ammunition, accessories, and merchandise. A few examples are shown below.
While it is no surprise that gun companies use e-commerce marketing tactics like other industries, the notable difference here is that they are selling deadly weapons that do not offer second chances. Additionally, these online marketing channels are easily accessed by those prohibited from owning guns, including children and teens too young to purchase guns legally.
Finally, none of the email blasts or social media posts reviewed by The Smoking Gun for Black Friday or Cyber Monday warned viewers about the risks of firearm ownership, or acknowledged that some families have empty seats at their Thanksgiving tables due to gun violence.