This isn't so surprising, given the massive demand. People have less faith in institutions to protect them and so therefore there is increased demand for self-

This isn't so surprising, given the massive demand. People have less faith in institutions to protect them and so therefore there is increased demand for self-defense. And the population is growing which also helps, I imagine. The portion of the article I can see not having an account doesn't say whether their metrics account for weapons purchased by governments, but even so, I'd expect the number of guns made to have been rapidly growing.