The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) points to FBI background check figures to show that over one million guns have been sold in America every month for the past 38 months.
FBI figures show there were 2,470,462 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks performed in the month of September. Mark Olivia, the NSSF’s managing director of public affairs, indicates that 1.2 million of the NICS checks were specifically for gun sales.
He observed the strong September gun sales signal that “firearm purchases remain steady and appear to headed toward making 2022 the third strongest year on record for firearm sales.”
Olivia also noted that September’s numbers “[mark] 38 continuous months of when background checks for firearm sales have exceeded 1 million,” and added, “That’s a remarkable sustained trend and demonstrates that the firearm industry is meeting this continued increased demand for firearm ownership.”
The 38-month time frame in which over one million guns a month have been sold has included periods of record-setting NICS background checks.
For example, Breitbart News reported that April 2021 was the 16th consecutive month of record checks for sales, transfers, etc. This means April 2021 saw more NICS checks than any April in history, March 2021 saw more than any March in history, February 2021 more than any February, and so on, for 16 months.
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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.