Last month saw a significant bump in the number of background checks for likely gun sales when compared to the same month in 2022.
At first glance, the unadjusted figures of 2,652,870 checks conducted through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System last month is a 5.6 percent decline from the FBI NICS figure of 2,788,138 in November 2022. In fact, it is the lowest number of checks processed for any November going back to 2018.
However, when adjusted — removing figures for gun permit checks and rechecks by states that use NICS for that purpose — the latest total stands at 1,595,476, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade organization for the U.S. gun industry. This number is 5 percent higher than the November 2022 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,519,524.
Of note, last month included the largest number of NICS checks conducted on Black Friday since the system was established in 1998.
Industry insiders see November’s figures of nearly 1.6 million background checks for the sale of a firearm at retail as a very strong indicator of a vibrant demand for lawful firearm ownership.
"The firearm industry typically sees a slight upswing in the number of background checks in the later months of the year, which coincide with hunting seasons and the holiday shopping sales," said Mark Oliva, NSSF's director of public affairs. "However, there are many communities with sustained levels of crime that have not abated. Those concerns, along with the punishing antigun measures by the Biden administration and threats of more gun control promised by the Biden-Harris reelection campaign, cannot be discounted as contributing factors."
Likewise, November continues a trend of over 1 million checks per month that has held for the past four years.
"Americans have demonstrated month after month and year after year, that Second Amendment rights matter and they are investing their hard-earned dollars to exercise their right to lawfully possess firearms before the right can be further infringed," said Oliva.
The true number of guns sold nationwide is likely far higher than the 1.6 million noted by NSSF. It should be noted that NICS numbers do not include private gun sales in most states or in 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. Further, it doesn't capture personally made firearms.
Banner image: A Wilson Combat 92G Centurion Tactical in the Guns.com Vault.
