Based on numbers published by the BATFE, about 195,000,000 firearms were added to the civilian "inventory" since the start of 2000.  Sinc we don't have final numbers for the 2021, I did a little extrapolating so my numbers have a small bit of wiggle room in them.

I may post the tables later, but here is the quick and dirty.

Almost 124,000,000 firearms were manufactured by known licensed manufacturers over the 21 year period.

Of those, about 4.4 million were exported.

However, a respectable 62,900,000 firearms were imported.

Not taking any sales to law enforcement and the mil, it boils down to about something north of 195,000,000.

An earlier thread talked about 400,000,000 background checks since 2000.  That number includes previously owned guns and background checks done by the States.  Some do their checks monthly, others don't.

Frankly, I was surprised that the increase in inventory was as great as it is.  I am also happy about it.

When discussing gun control with others, a good question to ask them is this.  How is a gun purchase not the same as a vote.  It is mostly a political statement in my opinion.  People hunt, but deer rifles are a very small part of the numbers.  People are buying guns because of politics and their view of the present and the future.

I haven’t really done my part yet.

I need a new safe.

I haven't bought a gun since April 2020

But I can see in the dark

Not enough

Hell I buy stripped lowers just because every one I bring into this state is a statement about the AR-15 being the most popular rifle/ Americas rifle of choice. Helps a little I hope.

Do these numbers include AR15 lowers ? Are they counted as a firearm by most manufacturers, or merely as a component that needs ATFE approval for purchase ?
Thanks for putting this together.

This

If the lower is stripped but has a SN, it's counted.