Alabama is home to more than 1,000 licensed gun sellers. That’s fewer than it had five years ago, but still roughly one seller for every 5,000 Alabamians.

But they aren’t spread evenly across the state. Some small Alabama cities and towns are home to far more than their fair share of gun sellers – including gunsmiths, traditional gun sellers, pawn shops and more.

Birmingham and Huntsville have the most total gun sellers, but when controlling for population, a slew of tiny towns stand out from the pack. That’s according to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as of June 2023.

From Jasper to Ardmore, these are the Alabama towns that boast the most firepower.

Gun sellers by city

Union Grove, a tiny north-Alabama hamlet of just 69 people in 2022, had three licensed gun sellers, or a rate of 435 per 10,000 residents – more than 100 higher than second place Banks.

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The tiny populations in towns like these means gun seller rates that are through the roof. But even some slightly larger towns ranked high on the list.

Among cities and towns with at least 1,000 people, none ranked higher than Ardmore, a small city on the Tennessee line with eight licensed gun sellers to just 1,400 people, or 57 per 10,000.

And as for even larger towns, Jasper was the only town with at least 10,000 people to have more than 10 gun shops per 10,000 residents. It had 11.

In raw numbers, Birmingham had the most total sellers at 37, just ahead of Huntsville – Alabama’s largest city – which had 36.

Gun sellers by county

No county in Alabama has more licensed gun sellers than Madison County, home to Huntsville in north Alabama.

Madison County had 80 licensed gun sellers as of June, with most of them outside the city limits. That’s compared to 72 gun sellers in Jefferson County, which is home to Birmingham and roughly 262,000 more people than Madison County.

However, when adjusted for population, four rural counties stand apart.

Marion County, a county of just 30,000 people in northwest Alabama, is home to the most gun sellers, when controlling for population. In Marion, that’s 6.5 gun sellers for every 10,000 residents, the highest rate of any Alabama county.

Ranolph County, of the other side of the state, isn’t far behind.

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Randolph County, a rural county on the Georgia line, is home to 14 gun sellers and just 22,000 people. That’s good for a rate of 6.2 gun sellers per 10,000 residents.

Two other counties had at least five gun sellers per 10,000 people, and both were in south Alabama. Clarke and Crenshaw counties had 5.3 and 5.4 gun sellers per 10,000 residents, respectively.

You can see the location of every licensed gun seller in Alabama on the map below.

[Can’t see the map? Click here.]

Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Or questions about Alabama that data may be able to answer? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.