The gun industry has rapidly ballooned in the past 14 years, creating thousands of jobs and generating billions in revenue, according to a new industry analysis. 

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reports in its latest annual update on the status of the industry that it generated more than $70.5 billion in the past year — compared to $19.1 billion in 2008. 

“Regardless of economic conditions across the country, our industry has grown and created over 375,000 new, well-paying jobs since the middle of the Great Recession in 2008,” the NSSF writes in the report. “Our industry is proud to be one of the bright spots in our economy.”

The NSSF reports a jump in job growth from 166,200 in 2008 to 375,000 employees last year across the industry.

According to the industry analysis, Texas led the way in 2021 with the reported creation of 31,632 jobs across gun companies, suppliers and other related businesses. California, normally viewed as a left-leaning state that has portrayed its state as tough on guns, followed closely with 29,082 jobs. 

“The economic contributions of our industry are indisputably contributing to every state and every community,” NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi said in a statement. “This is the hallmark of the hard-working men and women who prove that the American firearm and ammunition industry is strong.”

According to the NSSF analysis, gun and ammunition makers, wholesalers and dealers employed nearly 170,000 people across the country in 2021. Another 85,000 worked in direct suppliers to those companies, and more than 121,000 worked in connected industries.

“The broader economic impact flows throughout the economy, generating business for firms seemingly unrelated to firearms,” the NSSF said in its report. “Real people, with real jobs, working in industries as varied as banking, retail, accounting, metal working, even in printing, all depend on the firearm and ammunition industry for their livelihood.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the United States in 2020 — the most recent year for which data is available. 

At 13.6 gun deaths per 100,000 people, it was the highest rate in nearly three decades, according to the CDC’s records. The figure includes suicide, accidental and homicide gun-related deaths. 

“The firearm industry is committed to the safe, legal, and responsible ownership and use of firearms, and works on a daily basis to stop their criminal misuse,” the NSSF wrote in its report.

An analysis from the Pew Research Center found that, based on the CDC’s data, Mississippi (28.6 per 100,000 people), Louisiana (26.3), Wyoming (25.9), Missouri (23.9) and Alabama (23.6) had the most gun deaths per capita in 2020.