Handgun Sales Down, Long Gun Sales Up In California Data from the California Attorney General's office reported recently by the San Francisco Chronicle reveal that handgun sales in the state dropped 23 percent last year to a record low. Meanwhile, the sale of rifles and shotguns increased 7.3 percent. Last year Californians purchased at least 354,202 firearms, 198,999 long guns and 155,203 handguns, according to the data. However, because sales of both rifles and shotguns in a single transaction are counted only as one purchase, the total number of long guns sold is not precisely known. The true figure may be considerably higher. Local gun control advocates claim the drop in handgun sales is a result of a growing aversion to keeping such guns in the home. Critics cite increasingly restrictive firearm legislation and bureaucratic foot dragging, such as the attorney general¡¦s failure to timely publish a list of os approved, handguns for sale under a so-called is consumer protection, law that recently went into effect.