With Dems in blue and purple states pushing for more arbitrary gun bans, Americans reached for their wallet last month to make sure they were good.

According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, 1,933,972 federal background checks were processed in February 2025. That was a 13.5 percent decrease from the FBI NICS figure of 2,236,637 in January 2025. 

Not so fast. 

With the NICS data stripped of checks and rechecks for gun permits by the number crunchers over at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, last month saw 1,265,320 checks done for likely retail sales. That is an increase of 3.5 percent compared to the February 2025 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,222,980.

One state trending much higher than its historic figures is Virginia, which is facing a slate of seemingly unstoppable gun bans and regulations moving through the legislature in Richmond. Virginia's adjusted background checks in Feb. 2026 were 65,501 vs. Feb. 2025, which were 42,193 – a jump of 55 percent. 

"When instances of lawlessness and concerns for personal safety arise, Americans will respond by exercising their Second Amendment rights to both keep and bear arms," Mark Oliva, public affairs officer with the NSSF, told Guns.com. "We continue to see the trend of gun owners buying the firearms of their choosing in states where Second Amendment rights are threatened and before that right is unconstitutionally deprived of them. Virginia’s background checks were more than 23,000 higher in February than they were a year ago." 

In another window into hot-button issues, the February 2026 NFA figure of 209,023 is an increase of 167 percent compared to the February 2025 figure of 78,295. This speaks to the huge growth in demand for NFA items such as suppressors and short-barreled firearms since the long-standing $200 transfer and making taxes were zeroed out at the first of the year. 

According to data recently released by the American Suppressor Association, federal regulators had no less than 5,776,685 suppressors registered as of Jan. 5, 2026. By comparison, in 2010, there were only 285,087 registered suppressors nationwide.

Still, rookie numbers, folks. Pump it up!