No matter how you stack it, the numbers for October 2023 show a significant jump in gun sales nationwide.
Last month was the third-highest October on record in terms of federal background checks for gun transfers since the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System was established over 20 years ago.
When the numbers for last month were adjusted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation to remove gun permit checks and rechecks, the adjusted figure stands at 1,370,719, a 20-percent increase from the September 2023 tally of 1,141,847. Even when compared in a more apples-to-apples sense to the October 2022 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,265,311, it is an 8.3 percent bump.
"Once again, 1.3 million background checks for firearm sales at retail demonstrate the value Americans place on their Second Amendment rights," Mark Oliva, NSSF's director of public affairs, told Guns.com in an email on Wednesday. "This is telling, given the stark reminders of the importance of the Second Amendment protecting the right for law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and protect themselves and their loved ones."
Further, last month's figures mark the 51st in a row where such checks soared past the 1-million mark.
It should be noted that the federal background check numbers do not include private gun sales in most states or cases where a carry permit is used as an alternative to the background check requirements of the 1994 Brady Law, which allows the transfer of a firearm over the counter by a federal firearms license holder without first performing a NICS check. Over 20 states accept personal concealed carry permits or licenses as Brady exemptions.
Likewise, the figures do not capture privately made firearms.
Banner image: The FN Reflex, one of the most popular new micro 9mm carry guns on the market. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)