February Was 14th Consecutive Month of Record Firearm Background Checks

February 2021 was the 14th consecutive month of record National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks.

FBI figures show that 3,442,777 such checks were performed in February, breaking the February record set in 2020 by over 600,000 checks.

February 2021 saw more NICS checks than any February in history, even after 13 consecutive months setting new records for this application process.

In other words, January 2020 saw more checks than any January in history, up to that time, and February 2020 saw more checks than any February in history, up to that time. March 2020 saw more checks than any March in history, and April 2020 saw more than any other April. This pattern continued all the way through February 2021.

Background checks do not provide a precise indicator of the number of guns sold, as the checks are run on the buyer rather than the gun. Moreover, a buyer can purchase multiple guns once he or she passes the NICS check.

Some states also run the checks on concealed carry permit holders and, in those instances, the checks clearly do not signal the transfer of a firearm.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.