in his April 2025 article regarding Canada’s restrictions on the use of handguns for many things including hunting, fellow writer Joey LeBlanc noted that one of the many allures of handgun hunting is being part of the community of people who love their guns and choose this less common means ofharvesting game afield as their preferred method. Handgun hunters do make up a small but highly dedicated communityforever seeking to improve their craft and ability to effectively and ethically take game. These constant efforts come with a monetary cost which helps fuel the American economy and provide jobs in a wide array of sectors. This economic impact isjust one of many reasons which should lend credence to a governments support for the lawful use of firearms, including handguns, for hunting, target shooting, and personal defense.
Hunting and the Economy
I recently attended the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association (NMFWA) annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky where I sat in on a presentation from the Sportsmen’sAlliance where shooter participation data, some of which focused specifically on the economic impacts of hunting and target shooting with handguns, was highlighted from two recently published reports focusing on shooting sports in America.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Hunting in America report noted that more than 14.3 million Sportsmen participated in hunting in 2022 spending approximately $45.2 billion and contributing $56.5 billion to the overall U.S. GDP. Hunting pistols alone accounted for $934 million (8.4%) of the $7.9 billion in firearm specific spending during that same time. While not a large percentage of the overall market, these numbers combined with $12.3 billion spent on ancillary services and $25 billion in other equipment costs leading to a whopping total of $45.2 billion spent in just one year on hunting alone.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Target Shooting in America report also noted the massive economic engine fueled by recreational target shooters. The majority of these shooters, more than 23.2 million (59%), were using handguns, likely for practice in personal defense scenarios or in competition. This is no doubt why we’ve seen vast improvements in optics and equipment related to these disciplines while hunting optic development, such as long eye relief scopes, has lagged. Unsurprisingly, spending on handguns and handgun related ammunition and accessories accounted for nearly one third ($20 billion) of all direct spending in the Sportsmen’s Alliance analysis of the economic impact of target shooting. They further stated that “Spending by target shooters supported over 780,000 jobs in 2022 – more than the number of employees at any U.S. company except Walmart and Amazon.”
Conservation Funds
This report also noted that this industry alone contributed $886 million to the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund via Pittman-Robertson excise taxes. These funds directly impact hunters and outdoor recreationists of all kinds by providing funds to States and territories with the sole purpose of supporting wildlife restoration, conservation, and hunter education and safety programs. Clearly, the economic impacts of hunting and shooting sports are long standing and ongoing and handgun hunters make up a significant amount of the impact.
NSSF
Finally, The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported a total economic impact of the firearm and ammunition industry of nearly $91 billion in their 2025 Firearm and ammunition Industry Economic Impact Report Unfortunately, handgun specific numbers were not included in this report but using data from the Sportsmen’s Alliance Target Shooting and Hunting in America reports can allow for some inferences. As mentioned above, handgun users in target shooting make upalmost 59% of target shooters. From this, we may infer that nearly $53 billion in total economic impact was derived from handgun shooters. If we assume that 8.4% of this economic impact was derived from 8.4% of handgun hunters purchasing handgun hunting pistols from the Sportsmen’s Alliance Huntingreport, the total economic impact of only the firearms and ammunition used in handgun hunting is around $4.5 billion.These numbers are likely not exact, given differences in data gathering and the three-year time gap of the reports, but they are not small numbers either!
Wrapping Up
Though we as dedicated handgun hunters may not make up the largest sector of the massive handgun market, our spending habits related to hunting and training are certainly a powerful voice within the market. The large amounts of recreational target shooting that handgun hunters participate in outside the season to maintain their proficiency in the field adds untold dollars to the totals presented within these reports and it would be interesting to see these data amended to identify the portion of target shooters which also hunt with their handguns. Thankfully, our shooting and hunting heritage is strong in the U.S. and these massive economic inputs certainly help solidify the importance of this industry. Handgun Hunting Afield was founded to grow the sport of handgun hunting and is dedicated to ensuring hunters are represented in shooting sports and in the field.