Guns for guns, gun sales outpace supply in the U.S

The horrific Connecticut elementary school shooting has reignited the debate over gun control in the United States but at the same time gun sales have increased dramatically in the country.

The FBI recorded gun sales in December 2012 with more than 2.7 million background checks being conducted through its National Instant Check System (NICS).

Each check doesn't represent a single gun purchase but a single background check transaction.

Since the NICS system was established in November 1998, a total of 160,474,702 background checks were made. Of these, only around 0.006 percent of those attempted purchases were denied and 0.00008 percent (fewer than a hundred people a year) were prosecuted for lying on the form.

                      

There now are millions more guns in California, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, than there were 10 years ago.

Gun dealers in Tennessee reported over 1500 gun sales a day in the state, and the average is around four hundred.

Unregulated online gun sales raise concern in the country. Armslist.com enables illegal interstate arms sales because it doesn’t make buyers or sellers provide identification. There’s no background check required for private gun sales in most states, Lowy said.

Some researchers say that more important than the increase in gun sales is who is buying guns.

There is no deny that firearms industry in the U.S. is thriving despite the debate over gun control, and it seems that the "guns for guns" attitude has been shared by many Americans, thus making gun control more difficult in the country.

The firearms industry's total economic impact on the United States in 2012 is estimated at 31.8 billion dollars, according to the U.S. National Shooting Sports Foundation.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who has been assigned to lead the White House's gun-control task force, will host a meeting this week that includes representatives from gun rights groups, said the White House on Tuesday.