FBI: March Was 11th Month of Record Background Checks

FBI figures show that March 2016 was the 11th consecutive month of record background checks for retail gun sales in the U.S.

The streak that began in May 2015–when that month saw more background checks than any May on record–continued with June 2015 setting the all-time record for the every June, July for the month of July, August for the month of August, all the way up to March 2016.

According to the FBI, the number of background checks performed in March was 2,523,265. That beats the previous March record of 2,488,842, which was set in 2014.

Breitbart News previously reported that this streak of consecutive record-breaking months includes December 2015, which not only broke the record for background checks in December but also broke the all-time single-month background checks record. There were 3,314,594 background checks performed in December 2015, the previous single month record was December 2012 with 2,783,765.

It is important to remember that background checks do not translate into an exact figure for the number of guns sold because a background check is not performed on a specific gun but on a specific buyer.

After passing the check, the buyer can purchase multiple guns if he or she so chooses. This means the 2,523,265 checks performed in March 2016 could easily translate into 5,046,530 guns sold in March if everyone who passed a check bought two guns.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.