What does the number of Federal Firearms Licenses in a given state say about that state? About the United States as a whole?
Can data provided by the ATF on Federal Firearms License holders - when compared to various datasets from the US Census, American Community Survey, Energy Information Administration, &c. - provide insight into the nature of American populations?
Starting with basics: how do these firearms licenses vary by state population?
State Population and per capita Federal Firearms License count - an inverse relationship? Interestingly - when visualized on a log scale, the outliers appear to be the states with lowest per capita firearms license counts.
In the United States, a Federal Firearms License (FFL) is a requirement for those who engage in the business of firearms - generally dealers, manufacturers, and importers.
It's not actually a license to carry a firearm; it's strictly for conducting business involving firearms.
The ATF considers 9 types of FFLs:
- Dealer
- Pawnbroker
- Collector
- Manufacturer of Ammunition
- Manufacturer of Firearms
- Dealer in Destructive Devices
- Manufacturer of Destructive Devices
- Importer of Destructive Devices
This data is published monthly. How have the counts changed from 1975 to 20152?
For more details:
1 "Firearms Commerce Report in the United States", atf.gov.
2Tufte-style sparkline plot originally translated to R by Lukasz Piwek.
3 It's not necessary to have one if selling at gun shows, or when purchasing guns for personal reasons.