We are pleased to report that the Census Bureau has made some important changes to the way it reports exports to Canada in response to our questions and suggestions.
Exports of revolvers from the United States to Canada were reported for the first time in the October statistics. For the month of October, we see that exports of revolvers to Canada totaled $278,673, as compared with pistol exports of $130,724 (page 27).
Looking at the leading export markets for revolvers (page 6), Canada was the leading export destination for U.S. revolvers in October. Our top-25 destination reports rank markets on the basis of 36-month statistics, so it will take a few months for Canada to rise to the top of that report.
We have not been able to confirm that revolvers were previously lumped into the stats for pistols, but that is likely the case. Therefore, those who track exports of pistols to Canada are likely to see what looks like a significant decline in pistol exports to Canada, but which is merely the result of more accurate data for revolvers.
Autoloading centerfire rifles is another category for which data is newly available. This month’s report (page 27) shows exports of $348,703 to Canada in October versus zero in all previous months.
Even though this amount exceeds the value exported to any other country in October, it is not quite enough to put Canada in the top 25 export destinations in our table on page 7, which ranks markets based on 36-month totals.
It appears that this category was previously reported as “Other Centerfire Rifles.”
– Pump Action Shotguns
Exports of pump action shotguns to Canada totaled $380,600 in October, the first month for which statistics for this category have been available (page 27). This amount exceeds the total exported to the 24 other top-25 destinations (page 12) but it will take another month or two for Canada to rise to the top of that report.
Behind the Numbers will look at Canada again in January. Several categories for which no data to Canada has been reported in the past are unchanged. These mostly include military products.
In addition, we want to take a final look at Canada in January, after the November stats have been published, to see what other insights can be gleaned that should affect the way you interpret the Canadian data in our reports.