AMERICANS BOUGHT OVER 1 MILLION GUNS LAST MONTH (FOR THE 44TH MONTH IN A ROW)

Federal background check data for March 2023 shows that gun sales nationwide continue to be brisk.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation announced the 44-month streak after crunching the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System figures for last month.

The unadjusted March 2023 FBI NICS total of 2,954,230, after the data is sifted by NSSF to remove checks and rechecks done for carry permits and other reasons, remains at 1,556,492. In the end, last month’s numbers represent almost four years since July 2019 where background checks for the over-the-counter sale of a firearm have exceeded 1 million each calendar month.

That sustained figure, suggests NSSF experts, is clearly demonstrative of America’s continued desire to exercise their Second Amendment rights to lawfully purchase and own a firearm.

“This trend continues even as President Joe Biden demands stricter gun control measures that only place barriers in the way of law-abiding citizens yet do nothing to address the ongoing issues of crime and access to mental health,” Mark Oliva, NSSF’s public affairs director, told Guns.com. “Antigun politicians in states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and California are doing the same thing, and these sustained figures show that they are out of step with the concerns of millions of Americans lawfully purchasing firearms every month.”

Going past the NICS data, the true number of guns sold nationwide is even higher.

It should be noted that the federal background check numbers do not 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.

Over 20 states accept personal concealed carry permits or licenses as Brady exemptions.