Americans continue to reach for their wallets when it comes to practicing the right to keep and bear arms, with data suggesting over-the-counter gun sales passed the 1 million mark for the 56th month in a row.
Last month was the seventh-highest March on record in terms of federal background checks for likely over-the-counter gun transfers since the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System was established over 20 years ago.
The unadjusted figures of 2,497,577 checks conducted through NICS last month – while a 15.5 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,954,230 in March 2023 – is 6.6 percent higher than the 2,336,390 logged in February 2023.
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 1,442,061, which is a shallower drop of about 7.4 percent compared to the March 2023 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,556,492. However, last month's figures were 14.7 percent ahead of February 2024’s, which came in at 1,343,478.
Industry analysts point to these latest NICS figures marking 56 months straight exceeding 1 million likely sales to show where Americans' hearts are on the issue of gun control versus gun rights.
“These background checks continue to show that President Joe Biden’s demonization of the firearm industry and law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights is out of step with America," Mark Oliva, public affairs officer with the NSSF, told Guns.com via email. "Recent polls showed President Biden scored low marks for his policies attacking the rights of Americans yet does nothing to hold criminals accountable for their crimes. He’s established an office staffed by gun control lobbyists to steer his gun control agenda and just announced measures to export dubious gun confiscation laws across the country that are void of adequate Due Process protections.
"America is choosing a different path. These figures demonstrate that Americans reject those misguided policies and choose to lawfully and responsibly exercise their rights to keep and bear arms," said Oliva.
Going past the NICS data, the true number of guns sold nationwide is even higher.
This is because federal background check numbers don't 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.
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