California Makes More Money From Legal Guns Than Idaho Does

Being originally born in Texas, I can certainly tell you that I am no stranger to guns as it seemed like a rite of passage down south. I've always known guns are expensive but I honestly never realized just how massive the gun industry is from an economic standpoint.

Let's be clear - we're talking about legal guns

According to a report from Guns.com (sounds like a made-up site but I swear it's real), in 2022 there were 28,904,713 background checks logged between January 1st and December 31st.

They also report that on "Black Friday," the FBI reported an uptick and saw 192,749 background checks come through. Here's what's wild - those are just the background checks, not purchases. So, there's no telling how many guns were purchased for each background check. That's a lot of guns!

All of that being said - just how much money is made in the gun industry per state? According to 24/7 Wall St., Texas topped the list for "overall economic output from the gun industry" at $5.59 billion... I mean, it is Texas so is anyone really surprised?

But what about the state of Idaho? Surely with as much as people in the Treasure Valley love their guns, Idaho has to be ranked right up there with Texas... right?

Not really.

The two driving factors behind the numbers

Let's just be straightforward about it - taxes and population play a huge role in these numbers so Idaho is already at a disadvantage in economic output when matched up to much larger states... like say, California.

Let's look at the numbers for Idaho and surrounding states according to the report 24/7 Wall St...