Background Checks Prove Americans Continue to Buy Millions of Guns Each Month

July marked 60 consecutive months – or five years – of more than 1 million monthly NSSF-Adjusted FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verifications for the sale of a firearm at retail. This milestone is demonstrative of Americans’ desire to lawfully exercise their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes. The last time monthly background checks associated with the sale of a firearm at retail were below 1 million was July 2019, when 830,579 background checks for firearm sales were recorded.

Since then, each month, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) has recorded over 1 million background checks associated with the sale of at least one firearm at retail. July 2024’s total was 1,064,790 – a 4 percent increase over the 1,023,903 background checks recorded in July 2023.

“This mile marker shows the enduring appeal by Americans from all walks of life to exercise their uniquely American right to keep and bear arms,” says Joe Bartozzi, NSSF president and CEO. “These million-plus monthly background checks over the past five years represent the free expression of Second Amendment rights during tough and troubling times, including the COVID-19 pandemic when certain governors were shuttering gun stores and the Biden-Harris administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy to revoke licenses to sell firearms. During this time, Americans who never previously considered lawful firearm ownership decided to become gun owners. We’re proud of our industry’s work to provide the means to exercise those rights to law-abiding citizens across the country.”

The five years of million-plus monthly background checks included record setting years for lawful firearm ownership. The month with the most background checks for firearm sales ever recorded was in March 2020, when 2.3 million background checks were completed. That year – 2020 – over 21 million background checks for the sale of a firearm had been completed by the year’s end. That shattered the previous annual record set in 2016 of 15.7 million completed background checks. During this five-year stretch of million-plus background checks each month, 86,410,889 FBI NICS background checks have been completed for the sale of at least one firearm at retail. NSSF is grateful for the diligence and ability of FBI NICS to meet the staggering demands year-over-year.

These figures are conservative. Actual retail sales of firearms are likely much higher. Twenty-four states currently have a 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 concealed carry permit application checks as well as checks on active concealed carry 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. Multiple firearms may be purchased at the same time and at the same location with a single background check, as FBI NICS verifies that the purchaser is not prohibited from possessing a firearm, and not an actual check on the firearm itself. 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.