Yes, April’s adjusted NICS totals estimating the number of firearms sold in the month are down from the 2020 and 2021 spike totals, but look at the graph above and compare the 2022 bar to the April totals from the Before Times. The only prior period that came close was 2013 during the post-Sandy Hook buying surge. Last month beat that total by about 13%.
That’s a huge number. Why are Americans still beating a path to their local gun stores in nearly record-breaking numbers?
Forget the partisan angle of these results. The PBS/NPR numbers reflect the general mood of the country. John and Jane Q. Public aren’t impressed by the current approaches to crime and guns being taken by the people who are currently in charge.
No One believes gun sales caused the crime spike we’ve seen in the last two years, and Putin didn’t do it either. It’s a result of defunded and demoralized police departments, bail “reform” laws and prosecutors who don’t prosecute.
Meanwhile, politicians tell the public to believe them, not their lying eyes. Pay no attention to the news of fewer cops, rampaging gangs and more violent crime in your cities and neighborhoods. Blame the guns.
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City arrived at his first #MetGala wearing a tuxedo jacket with the words “End Gun Violence” written across the back, along with a drawing of a handgun encircled in a “no” symbol. https://t.co/162WCJrQdy pic.twitter.com/ox1uvt7k5w
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 3, 2022
As the April NICS data make perfectly clear, Johnny and Janey aren’t relying on politicians’ promises or the response time of their local law enforcement agency. They’ve decided that, whatever their opinions of firearms may have been in the past, they now want to have the ability to protect themselves and their families.
The NSSF’s Mark Oliva said about the April NICS results . . .
April’s NSSF Adjusted NICS figures of 1,359,908 shows that there is a steady and sustained appetite for lawful firearm ownership in America. April’s figure continues the streak of more than 1 million background checks for the sale of a firearm for 33 months and demonstrates that the firearm industry continues to meet America’s strong demand for lawful firearm ownership.
It is clear that those looking for the “new normal” of firearm sales following the two outsized years of 2020 and 2021 can find all the evidence needed to know that law-abiding citizens are turning out by the millions each month to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Here’s the NSSF’s press release . . .
The April 2022 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,359,908 is a decrease of 19.7 percent compared to the April 2021 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,694,118. For comparison, the unadjusted April 2022 FBI NICS figure 2,534,057 reflects a 27.3 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 3,485,016 in April 2021.
The April 2022 figures are the third strongest for the month on record, surpassed by April 2021 and April 2020.
Please note: Twenty-five states currently have at least one qualified alternative permit, which under the Brady Act allows the permit-holder, who has undergone a background check to obtain the permit, to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without a separate additional background check for that transfer. The number of NICS checks in these states does not include these legal transfers based on qualifying permits and NSSF does not adjust for these transfers.
The adjusted NICS data were derived by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.
Though not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provide an additional picture of current market conditions. In addition to other purposes, NICS is used to check transactions for sales or transfers of new or used firearms.
It should be noted that these statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars. Based on varying state laws, local market conditions and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.
And our “monarchs” STILL don’t get it!
I would contribute to these numbers, but there’s nothing I want to buy.
Oh Jimmy, there’s always something you want to buy. You just have to look hard enough.
Jimmy & Gadsden:
I have never before seen a time like this. Here is my want list of items that I cannot find:
1. Ruger Scout Rifle in .308 Win. in stainless steel.
2. Henry Big Boy Steel Side Gate Carbine in .44 Magnum in blue steel.
3. Ruger GP100 in .357 Magnum with a 3″ barrel in stainless steel.
4. As an alternative to the GP100 (and maybe preferred): S&W Mod. 66 with a 3″ barrel in .357 Magnum in stainless steel.
I won’t be able to buy all of these at once, but I can’t find any of them to even LOOK at.
And, I have bought over the Internet in the past when I knew exactly what I wanted, but i just hate not being able to go into my LGS for touchy feely BEFORE buying.
I love that the nssf seems to think that manufacturers are meeting demand…That is funny right there…that is.
Agreed. There are firearms I would like to acquire, but they are not currently being produced. Compared to the Before Times, pickings are slim, unless you want a 9mm or an AR15.
Jimmy, I understand. If you really want the jewels out there, it takes three things. #1. Friends that like nice firearms. #2. Those friends have other friends that like nice firearms. #3. Luck. Especially, luck.
Maybe in 9mm, 380, 5.56 and 12 gauge as not much else is on the shelves
I was at a Bass Pro Shop about two weeks ago having a look around. They had a 1911 Charles Daily in their used case for $450. What stood out the most though is that the tag said “never fired”. Seeing this article made me think about that.
And now, after the leak about the upcoming Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade, we’ll probably see another big spike in sales as the usual suspects take to the streets to preserve their “right” to indiscriminately kill unborn children by their usual mode of “peaceful protest” – you know, where they march and chant and try to make a rational argument until the white suprem@tists show up to ruin the group hug by burning businesses and smashing windows…another Summer of Love is just around the corner folks so stock up in ammo now, if you can find it…
Hey now those protests were “mostly peaceful” and totally didn’t have a disparate impact on minority business owners.
Protesters go home at dark. Rioters stay the night.
A few left to-buy on my list but with things are they way they are and no end in sight my money is better spent on food, fuel and ammo.
Didn’t buy anything gat related last month. I did buy a scope today. I told my wife I wasn’t buying a gat…😎
My wife said: “You come home with one more gun I’m leaving.” I said: “Okay, I understand.
And I’ll surely miss you.”
Just to qualify what I am going to say so no one thinks I am a racist just someone who calls it as I see it. I have 4 black cousins, two Chinese and my grandson is South Korean. My live in partner has one black grandson.
When we elect people because of the color of their skin, religion, gender, etc. that is a huge mistake. People should be elected or appointed based on their qualifications and proven competency. When you look at people like Lori Lightfoot, Adams, the new Czar of the Ministry of Truth, and just about every current cabinet appointment in Washington as well as the President and Vice President, they are all incompetent. So while it is a good thing to be inclusive it is also important to pick people who are the best so they represent not only all of us well but the minority or majority group from which they come. When you elect or appoint a person from any group who is incompetent it is a slap in the face to all those folks in that group minority or not.
No guns this year, did pick up some accessories last month, need Grendel food and that stuff ain’t cheap!
I can’t get what I what because “Out of Shock”
I’m a Ruger fan!
And apparently so is a whole lot of other people
Reminds me of the run on ammunition a few years ago
Well I cant buy anymore gunms until I get a new file.
The Same old Republican propaganda and outright lies.
The U.S. has the highest number of people in prison in the entire world and one of the highest crime rates in the Industrialized world. Obviously putting millions of people in prison has not worked.
The past decades when the war on crime and the 3 strikes and you were out were put into effect only made the crime rate rise, not fall, because the underlying social problems that cause crime are ignored and or are blocked by the gangster criminal Republicans who have refused time after time to increase job retraining,
Cut aid to education,
Refusal to fund after school programs for youth in InterCitys with high crime.
Refused funding and programs to create high paying jobs here in the U.S.
Refused to fund a National Health Care program which would pay for mental health care and treatment.
Refused to pass Universal Background Checks which permits criminals and lunatics free access to deadly weapons without vetting.
Refused to fund safe storage laws for firearms which lets criminals steal guns at will and has resulted on average of 1,300 children dying by firearms left unattended in the home as well as almost 4,000 crippling’s of children.
Statistics involve math.
Math is racist.
Ergo, math and statistics have are racist, and a lie.
Unless both support truth over fact.
I’m looking for a.410 Remington 870 Pump. Turkey season! Can’t find one anywhere!
“Cant find one anywhere ”
Turkeys or .410’s?
(Rolling my eyes) I think it says I am looking for a .410 Remington 870.
Turkeys have moved to the suburbs. You’ll f8nd them there.
Thank obiden for great salesmanship!
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