Emerging Trends Of
First-Time Buyers

During the past year (and counting), millions of Americans raced into gun stores to snap up their first firearms. Now, the industry is left wondering what happens next.

How many of them can be turned into repeat customers? Is there anything that can be done to help? And will these first timers lend their voices — and votes — to protect the Second Amendment?

In the short term, the answers to these questions are complicated by empty ammo shelves, suggests Kurt Davis, one of the owners of Accuracy Firearms in Effingham, Ill.

“It’s going to be hard for us to keep them in the industry if the ammo shortage continues,” he observed.

Clearly, the buying surge has inflicted considerable pain onto the retail landscape in terms of ammo and firearm scarcity. However, this is a stellar opportunity for the industry to expand its customer base.

In a perfect world, there would be plenty of ammo to sell at reasonable prices — allowing new shooters the freedom to train and explore competitions and other aspects of shooting. But those days are far off. So, the challenge facing the industry is figuring out how to help these customers see their new guns as something more than a knee-jerk response to the jarring events of the past year.

Biltz routinely sees newer customers signing up for those classes, and they’re starting to bring friends along. With many of these people getting their first real exposure to guns, she argues it’s critical the experience be a good one.

“Once they learn, the fear goes away. Then they see it’s actually fun,” she added.

For those who spend their lives in gun shops, it’s easy to forget how intimidating these places can be for someone who’s never held a gun. It’s why Davis, in Illinois, offers a bare-bones Pistol 101 course. The three-hour session is divided between classroom and range, where students shoot a budget-friendly 50 rounds.

If you aren’t offering some sort of training, you may be missing out on opportunities to forge lasting relationships with these customers. There’s certainly a demand for it.”

The goal is to get newbies acquainted with their guns, without overwhelming them. “You can’t take someone from kindergarten and put them in high school and expect them to learn,” Davis argued.

One interesting thing to note: At Accuracy, like the other stores interviewed here, newer customers have been particularly interested in guns with external safeties. It’s a natural extension of their discomfort with guns, Davis suggests.

It’s had an impact on the store’s buying strategies, particularly when it comes to guns like the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield EZ — offered in versions with or without an external safety. In the good old days, an order of 10 guns would include only three with safeties. Today, it’s the opposite.

“We’ve seen a mass flip with that,” Davis informed.

Arm Yourself… With Patience

Everyone has stories from the past year about customers who know far less than they need to about guns. Ben Bode, general manager of Target Shooting Solutions in Avondale, Pa., remembers the guy who walked into his shop looking for 9mm ammo for a carbine he’d recently purchased. When he learned they didn’t have any, the customer asked if he could just use .357 Magnum instead.

“Obviously, he had no concept of how guns work,” Bode asserted. “It’s important we don’t make people feel ignorant. It defeats the purpose and pushes people away from the industry.”

This is where it pays to have employees armed with the patience needed to walk novice customers through the basics and get them on the right track.

It’s also one of the perfect points at which they can be steered toward classes. If you aren’t offering some sort of training, you may be missing out on opportunities to forge lasting relationships with these customers. There’s certainly a demand for it.
“We were actually at a point where we were booked up more than two weeks on private lessons,” Bode said. “Our classes were filling up as fast as we posted them.”

They start everyone with a First Shots class, with some dedicated to women only. Demand has soared for the course, now offered twice a week.

“It’s been very easy for us to get them into classes and private training,” he noted. “Most of these first-time buyers understand they have no idea what they’re doing.”

But how can they shoot if they can’t find ammo?

The Big Question

Perhaps no one feels the effects of the ammo shortage more than someone buying their first gun. Often, stores will set aside some ammo for each gun sold. At Accuracy Firearms in Illinois, they hold back some range ammo and higher-quality self-defense rounds for gun buyers. They’ve also limited ammo sales to one box a day per customer.

While it may not appease regulars who’d rather buy by the case, it does help the new shooters.

“They’re not coming in looking to buy 1,000 rounds,” Davis said. “They just want to shoot a few times to get comfortable with their gun.”
With supply lines tight, Davis worries about the impact on customers and training. There’s been strong interest in classes, but demand could be higher.

“It’s been heavy. But I know a lot of new customers aren’t training because they don’t have the ammo,” he remarked. “I don’t have the ammo to provide them.”

Don’t Forget The Extras

Another nice benefit of having so many novice customers has been a spike in demand for accessories. They’re buying cleaning supplies, holsters, flashlights, extra mags, eye/ear protection and range bags to carry it all in.

“They have nothing. They’re starting from zero,” Davis stated. “They don’t even have a single round of ammo.”

It’s been very easy for us to get them into classes and private training. Most of these first-time buyers understand they have no idea what they’re doing.

Ben Bode, general manager Target Shooting Solutions, Avondale, Pa.

Among the best-selling items at his shop are range bags (they offer a popular line by GPS). They’ve also witnessed a surge in purchases of smaller items (flashlights, hats, cups, etc.) in the $20 or less range.

At Target Shooting Solutions in Pennsylvania, they’re selling the obvious stuff, including cleaning kits, AR furniture, weapon lights, holsters and eye/ear protection. And while full-size safes don’t sell well, they’re doing better with smaller security options.

“We do a lot of sales of small vaults and lockable cases that are handy for one or two guns,” Bode said.

New Allies?

Given the current state of politics in the country, it seems fair to question whether the industry will benefit from having millions of voters become first-time gun owners. Throughout the buying surge, there have been reports from gun shops across the nation of new customers who were, at best, ambivalent toward the Second Amendment. Could they become allies?

Biltz sees reason for optimism based on new owners’ eagerness to educate themselves.

“They were brave enough to come in and buy a gun and learn about it. You would hope it would change their minds,” she observed.
At the very least, it’s been informational for these buyers, who have run into unexpected delays from background checks and mandatory waiting periods.

“A lot of these customers had no idea they would have to wait. It’s definitely been an eye-opening experience from that standpoint,” recalled Davis.

Like others, he’s been selling guns to people who — before 2020 — thought they’d never own a firearm. With any luck, he hopes a positive experience will show them the importance of gun rights.

He’d like to see the industry encourage new buyers to join the NRA, USCCA and other shooting associations. Even if they don’t want to be active, simply adding their numbers to those groups will help in terms of political clout.

It certainly won’t hurt retail sales when those folks start getting their monthly magazines, filled with articles and advertisements about new guns and accessories.

“They’ll start seeing the new products. I think it will drive them back to the industry,” Davis predicted. “Every month, they’ll be thinking about guns, ammunition and shooting. It helps if we can keep that information in front of them all the time.”

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