According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), gun manufacturers produced over 9.7 million firearms domestically in 2023 — a nearly 30% decrease from the 13.8 million manufactured in 2021 and a 28% decrease from 13.5 million in 2022. The new data from the Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report (AFMER) for 2023, published last month, provides more insights on the state of the gun industry after the pandemic.
The new data comes as the gun industry faces decreasing sales and pressure from President Trump’s tariffs, which will likely raise gun prices.
TOTAL FIREARMS manufactured in the u.s.
reading the afmer
The AFMER tallies all the pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and “miscellaneous” frames and receivers — the basic building blocks of firearms — manufactured and exported by gun makers in a given year. The data does not indicate how many guns Americans purchased in a given year. Further, the report breaks pistols and revolvers down by caliber, but not rifles or shotguns. It also does not differentiate between semi-automatic and manually operated rifles and shotguns, and many manufacturers produce both types of weapons. In other words, on its own, the AFMER cannot be used to estimate how many assault weapons are in circulation, despite industry claims.
The AFMER also does not include any data on imported firearms, and thus does not provide a complete picture of how many guns enter the commercial U.S. market each year. For example, the latest AFMER shows that Glock produced over 345,00 pistols in the U.S. in 2023, but the ATF does not disclose how many guns the company imported from its Austrian headquarters. (The agency only publishes total imports broken down by country, not manufacturer.) The same can be said for other international gun manufacturers, such as Beretta, Taurus, and FN.
crunching the 2023 numbers
While the full ATF data is available here, production figures from the top 10 domestic manufacturers and exporters can be found in the tables below. Here are some key highlights:
- Five of the top 10 gun makers produced fewer firearms in 2023 than the previous year.
- Ruger produced more firearms domestically in 2023 than any other manufacturer with 1.3 million guns — down 17% from the 1.6 million it manufactured in 2022. Sig Sauer, the second-leading manufacturer, also saw a 17% decrease in production from 2022 to 2023.
- Of the nearly 1 million firearms Smith & Wesson manufactured in 2023, over 358,000 (36%) were produced at the company’s headquarters in Maryville, Tennessee, in just three months. The facility had its grand opening in October 2023.
- Mossberg, a company known for its shotguns and rifles, saw the biggest dropoff in production — a 72% decrease — between 2023 and 2022. Much of this can be attributed to Mossberg producing fewer frames and receivers.
- The top 10 manufacturers produced 6.4 million guns in 2023, or roughly 65% of all firearms produced that year.
- Nearly 4 million of the firearms produced in 2023 were pistols (40%), followed by rifles (32%), frames and receivers (13%), revolvers (8%), shotguns (6%). Over 60% of the pistols were in 9mm caliber.
top gun manufacturers of 2023
| Manufacturer | Pistols | Revolvers | Rifles | Shotguns | Misc. | 2023 Total | 2022 Total | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruger | 505,735 | 177,366 | 621,521 | 6 | 987 | 1,305,615 | 1,565,743 | -17% |
| 2 | Sig Sauer | 944,562 | 0 | 57,354 | 0 | 18,839 | 1,020,755 | 1,226,188 | -17% |
| 3 | Smith & Wesson | 604,696 | 196,279 | 188,453 | 2,137 | 282 | 991,847 | 973,994 | 2% |
| 4 | Savage Arms | 4,330 | 0 | 639,591 | 81,723 | 0 | 725,644 | 719,641 | 1% |
| 5 | Palmetto State Armory | 114,534 | 0 | 103,124 | 0 | 364,111 | 581,769 | 551,448 | 6% |
| 6 | Henry Repeating Arms | 8,626 | 5,223 | 377,743 | 13,257 | 6,937 | 411,786 | 365,867 | 13% |
| 7 | Mossberg | 961 | 0 | 77,085 | 253,633 | 66,243 | 397,922 | 1,404,697 | -72% |
| 8 | Glock | 345,119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 345,119 | 465,117 | -26% |
| 9 | Anderson Manufacturing | 1,084 | 0 | 28,008 | 0 | 308,566 | 337,658 | 157,264 | 115% |
| 10 | Taurus | 75,941 | 178,758 | 20,757 | 0 | 0 | 275,456 | 595,690 | -54% |
| Total | 6,393,571 | 8,430,851 | -5% | ||||||
According to the AFMER, American gun makers exported 479,033 firearms in 2023, a 24% decrease from the 629,163 firearms that were exported in 2022. This is notable given that the Department of Commerce announced a pause on issuing new firearm and ammunition export licenses in October 2023 amid reports that the agency had helped U.S. gun makers export tens of thousands of semi-automatic weapons to “some of the most violent countries in the world” by easing export restrictions.
Months later, in April 2024, the department issued an interim final rule requiring more vetting for gun makers to export semi-automatic weapons to certain high-risk countries. At the time, the gun industry’s trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), blasted the decision, claiming it would “strike at the heart of the ability of this industry to stay in business.” It was the NSSF that originally lobbied the first Trump administration to move oversight of firearms exports from the State Department to the Commerce Department in 2020.
| Manufacturer | Pistols | Revolvers | Rifles | Shotguns | Misc. | 2023 Total | 2022 Total | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sig Sauer | 74,220 | 0 | 4,027 | 0 | 18 | 78,265 | 75,794 | 3%% |
| 2 | Ruger | 7,529 | 1,995 | 57,377 | 0 | 24 | 66,925 | 85,666 | -22% |
| 3 | Glock | 64,832 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64,832 | 123,907 | -48% |
| 4 | Savage Arms | 182 | 0 | 51,641 | 4,895 | 0 | 56,718 | 68,530 | -17% |
| 5 | Mossberg | 3,593 | 0 | 8,950 | 29,379 | 2,757 | 44,679 | 31,823 | 40% |
| 6 | Smith & Wesson | 23,485 | 8,550 | 9,272 | 95 | 0 | 41,402 | 43,031 | -4% |
| 7 | Springfield Armory | 13,869 | 0 | 17,555 | 0 | 0 | 31,424 | 14,451 | 117% |
| 8 | Henry Repeating Arms | 225 | 0 | 13,257 | 458 | 81 | 14,021 | 14,309 | -2% |
| 9 | Kel-Tec | 3,503 | 0 | 5,958 | 1,059 | 0 | 10,520 | 9,622 | 9% |
| 10 | Beretta | 7,530 | 0 | 0 | 2,184 | 0 | 9,714 | 12,230 | -21% |
| Total | 418,500 | 479,363 | 6% | ||||||
total firearms exports
