NICS Background Checks for Gun Sales Up in September 2024

Last month saw a measurable bump in the number of background checks for likely gun sales compared to the same month in 2023.

The figure of 2,072,550 checks conducted through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System last month is a 1.8-percent increase from the FBI NICS figure of 2,035,410 in September 2023.

When adjusted by removing figures for gun permit checks and rechecks by states that use NICS for that purpose, the latest total stands at 1,156,223, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group for the U.S. gun industry. This number remains 1.3 percent higher than the September 2023 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,141,847.

Of note, last month continues the unbroken 62-month streak that NICS has logged over 1 million adjusted background checks in a single month.

Industry insiders see last month’s figures of over 1.1 million background checks for the sale of a firearm at retail as a strong indicator of a vibrant demand for lawful firearm ownership, especially speeding toward a presidential election.

“The Vice Presidential debate offered a substantive examination of why Americans – by the millions each month – continue to lawfully purchase firearms,” said Mark Oliva, NSSF’s director of public affairs. “Americans are concerned for their safety and the safety of their loved ones. They refused to be painted with the broad brush that gun control proponents use to paint them in the same patterns as criminals. The fact is, Americans face a stark difference in the two tickets when it comes to respecting their Constitutional rights to keep and bear arms. America is demonstrating, month after month, that lawful gun ownership matters.”

The true number of guns sold nationwide is likely far higher than the 1.1 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.