According to Firearm Chronicles
The country’s gun buying surge that began with the coronavirus closures in March soared to new heights in June, with a record 3.9-million NICS checks performed. According to the FBI, there were a total of 3,931,607 background checks conducted last month, compared to 2,312,309 checks in June of 2019. This marks the third month in 2020 with more than 3,000,000 background checks, and the 3.9-million checks recorded is the highest number of background checks ever reported in a single month in the 20 year history of the NICS program.
Now, a note of caution; Not all of these checks were for firearm purchases. Some of the checks conducted were for concealed carry applications or FOID card licenses, and sales of multiple firearms will only result in one background check being performed. In other words, the NICS numbers aren’t a perfect snapshot of firearm sales, but they do provide a fairly decent proxy.
To provide a more accurate snapshot of how many of these NICS checks involve actual sales of firearms, the firm Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting separated out codes for things like concealed carry renewals from NICS codes for firearms transfers. The company estimates that there were 2,3͕87,524 firearms sold across the United States last month, including 1.5-million handgun sales (a whopping 177% increase compared to June of 2019) and 690,212 sales of long guns (a 114% increase from JUne of 2019).
The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates that in the first six months of 2020, as many as 2-million Americans purchased a firearm for the very first time. Those numbers are clearly growing as people take stock of the riots, unrest, and sharp rise in violent crime seen in many cities. Calls to defund or abolish police departments are also likely contributing to the continued surge in gun sales during what is normally the slowest months of the year for gun purchases.
The NSSF’s Mark Oliva says the new numbers are “representative of Americans from all walks of life who are taking action and taking responsibility for their rights and their safety.”
“These figures represent the highest June on record since the FBI began conducting instant background checks more than 20 years ago. The sharp in increase in Americans buying firearms in June continues a trend we saw start in the spring. Civil unrest, rioting, looting and calls to defund police are unquestionably motivating factors of why this trend is increasing. Americans are right to be concerned for their personal safety. It’s entirely reasonable that law-abiding citizens are exercising their Constitutional right to purchase a firearm to protect themselves. Our nation’s elected representatives should take heed of where their constituents are on gun ownership today. Politicians who entertain notions of defunding police departments are the same ones who call for strict gun control and even outright confiscation. These figures aren’t push polls. They are representative of Americans from all walks of life who are taking action and taking responsibility for their rights and their safety.”