Americans opened their wallets at the gun counter last month, picked up over a million guns in addition to submitting forms for over 140,000 NFA items.
According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, 1,780,230 background checks were processed in May 2026. That was a 10.9 percent decrease from the FBI NICS figure of 1,998,440 in May 2025.
However, that figure is a bit of a red herring, as it covers several types of checks, not just those done for gun sales.
The firearms industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, adjusts the raw NICS numbers to remove gun permit checks and rechecks and leave the base number of checks done for over-the-counter sales. The adjusted figure for May 2026 stands at 1,105,758, a 3.2 percent increase compared to the May 2025 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,071,685.
“These are indisputable facts. Over 1.1 million times, Americans exercised their Second Amendment rights by purchasing a firearm at retail," Mark Oliva, public affairs officer with the NSSF, told Guns.com. "That is definitive proof that lawful firearm ownership is an American priority. The evidence is in the numbers."
The data crunched by the trade group is just a baseline. It does not cover privately made firearms in most cases, nor does it cover face-to-face personal sales in most states. Also, the ATF allows gun license holders in at least 28 states to show their credentials instead of a Brady check, and those transfers are not captured statistically in the NICS process.
NFA transfers way up
Plus, with the tax on suppressors and short-barreled firearms zeroed out this year, the number of NFA items transferred has exactly doubled when compared to last year, with May 2026's figure of 146,551, a 100.4 percent jump compared to May 2025's more paltry 73,138.
The number of legal suppressors in circulation is over 6 million, which is a big deal when taken in comparison to the past century of regulation of the humble gun muffler.
"As of April 10, 2026, 5,998,065 suppressors were registered in the NFRTR, a number that has likely surpassed 6 million as of today," the American Suppressor Association advised Guns.com recently. "The number of suppressors registered between Jan. 2026 and April 10, 2026, is almost as many as ALL the suppressors registered between 1934 and 2010 (76 years)."
Banner image: A Springfield Armory Saint Victor 9mm PDW on the range, complete with a modular SilencerCo Omega 36M suppressor and a Holosun 507C sight on a Picatinny base. Stick mag happiness, for sure! (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
