Joe Biden may not know what time it is at any given moment of the day, but with his administration’s whole-hearted embrace of just about every limit on firearm ownership and use that the gun control industry has been pushing for the last few decades, he’s making his old boss look like a piker in terms of gun sales.

It turns out that talking up his desire for more gun control, demonizing gun makers, and threatening to ram through restrictions via executive order only serves to goose Americans into buying more. This, despite many models being hard to come by these days.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is out with their adjusted background check numbers for March and they’re…impressive. These are the FBI’s raw background check totals adjusted to strip out checks done for permit renewals and the like. They’re a reasonable, if admittedly low estimate of actual gun sales (many states down’t require carry permit holders to undergo a background check when buying a new heater).

About March’s numbers, the NSSF’s Mark Oliva had this to say . . .

March 2021’s figures were the second strongest for the month on record, surpassed only by March 2020, when 2.3 million background checks for a firearm sale were conducted.

It is clear that firearm sales in March were driven by gun control calls from politicians to ban entire classes of firearms and enact onerous gun laws. Americans continue to vote with their wallets when it comes to lawful firearm ownership. Over 2 million chose to exercise their right to keep and bear arms last month.

March’s background checks shows that President Biden’s demand to enact a ban on AR-15s and the push by Democrats to enact laws that would deny Americans their rights is out of step with Main Street, U.S.A. The firearm industry will continue to serve those law-abiding citizens who choose to protect themselves and their loved ones and, at the same time, pursue real solutions to keep firearms from criminals and other prohibited individuals to stop them from victimizing innocent lives.

The challenge facing America today isn’t the law-abiding gun owner. It is crime. We urge our lawmakers to join us.

Here are the raw, un-adjusted FBI background check totals. Note that March’s total was the highest ever (by a lot), as was the 1Q21 total.

Heres’ the NSSF’s press release . . .

The March 2021 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 2,044,136 is a decrease of 14.0 percent compared to the March 2020 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 2,375,525. For comparison, the unadjusted March 2021 FBI NICS figure 4,645,609 reflects a 25.2 percent increase from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 3,709,562 in March 2020.

The first quarter 2021 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 5,483,342 reflects an increase of 13.3 percent over the 4,841,126 figure for first quarter 2020, making this the highest first-quarter on record.

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.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

33 COMMENTS

  1. It would be funny if Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and Feinstein owned a bunch of gun stocks. Wouldn’t surprise me.

    • Id be surprised if they didnt.
      All legislators are toll takers; they create legislation for the purpose of making money, the make it from the special interests paying them and then they make it on the back side in the stock market, betting the opposite of whatever their public position is.

      • Maybe they’re all invested in BTC so that they can push insane spending plans and then cash in.

        Keep the banks out by letting them manipulate various commodities markets and get away with it… for a fee.

        • We all saw the reaction to the whole GameStop incident. They don’t like it when the serfs start playing in their moneypit

  2. As I’m currently watching Inside Edition where gangs of youts of color are beating the chit out of various non colored men…I bet they wish they carried a gun!!!

  5. I believe that’s the only way we’re gonna get out of this gun-grabber admin. More and more people buying guns and ammo.

    • …then using them along the reasons in which our Founders wrote the 2nd Amendment in the first place. After voting fails of course. OH! that’s right, there was Election 2020.

      • You’re not supposed to say the quiet part out loud. We commenters here at TTAG understand. Otherwise, you attract too much attention.

  6. Honestly, I don’t think the POTUS has much to do with this. If DJT was still in office I think guns would still be selling like Wayfair furniture at a NAMBLA convention.

    IMHO it’s the divisive politics and social strife that’s driving this. Lots of people see a very rough road due to inflation, shortages, the number of people out of work, race issues, a Fed that blindly ignores dangerous market signals, a overstretched world supply chain, China controlling a lot of the supply of a great many things etc etc etc etc.

    Heck, I wouldn’t be terribly shocked to find out that at this point the threat of “vaccine passports” has people buying guns due to the obvious Orwellian overtones of that policy suggestion.

    • Really? You think sales under a re-elected Trump would be the same as they are now under a Democrat president who’s itching to sign bills into law and executive orders limiting the RKBA?

      • Yes, I think that’s the case… which is why I said it.

        Or would it be more reasonable to assume that all the issues of 2020 would magically disappear if DJT continued in the Oval Office?

        I find that hypothesis extremely questionable.

        Democrat governors would be #RESISTing everything as hard as possible and the media would still be in a frenzy, hyping up race issues and anything else they could find to throw at DJT and the GOP. ANTIFA and BLM would still be doing their thing, Kamala would be helping bail them out, cops would still be hamstrung, we wouldn’t be magically “reopened”, in fact Blue states would probably be locked down more, political questions over both Covid and everything to do with it would still exist along with all our economic problems looming eviction issues, bankruptcies, suicides… the lot.

        The one issue that we currently have that might not have been as big, or even really exist in close to the current form, is the set of problems at the border. However, I doubt that this issue is a major catalyst for gun sales overall in the US.

        • ok. well, i believe that in a final omb term, that streets would be swept up (guard) and federal prosecutions would be applied where local revolving door policies allow catch and release. sorry, punk ass bitches would mostly (some super heinous shite would probably occur) fold without complicit governance.
          that’s my fantasy that didn’t happen and i’m stickin’ to it.

      • Well…
        We did not have Democrats in control of everything in 2020. How many gun sales took place under Trump? Granted, this year is not over and the wheel is still in spin.

        • Something on the order of 90% of these problems weren’t created by the Federales. They were created by state and local Democrat politicians, probably for the purpose of damaging Mr. Trump while he respected Federalism.

          I see no reason to believe that this would have changed if he was reelected.

    • Yup, I think your right on the most part. But if theBiden said he was going to ban pancakes flour would be hard to find.

    • It’s plain and in your; (our) face. The Western idea of democracy is being systematically crushed and a new type of WARFARE is being used to accomplish their Authoritarian ends. A little statue in Georgia ( the American state ) outlines this end. Not the means to this end. Use your imagination folks. GB

  7. I’m already set. I don’t need to purchase anymore firearms…or, ammunition.

    So, just try to take it all away…

      • And little ‘chewie’ is a pathetic excuse of viable protoplasm.

        Go back to wanking, boy, it’s the only thing you’re qualified of doing competently… 😉

  8. I wonder how many of those March gun sales were AR platform pistols? Probably a hot seller right now.:)

  9. I did my part today. It will get to the FFL in about a week, and then there is the ten day wait…So maybe by the end of the month I will be able to get my mitts on it..

    • Holy crap, I dont know where your at, but here you walk in, pick it out, the gunmshop owner narcs you out to the fbi for buying it and you walk out with it in about ten minutes.

  10. I just got my third Biden stimulus package card, traded in for cash at my local bank, buying a AR15 pistol and some Whisky. Money well spent. For theose of you who are still in the dark, wake up, they are the enemy, and they are coming for your guns, No one in 1933 Germany thought it could happen either.. The democratic party is worse than the third reich, it’s the new communist party.

  11. Definitely not the best time to buy firearms, the prices are ridiculous, at least with certain types of weapons. I have seen entry level AR15 (Ruger AR556 and S&W MP15) advertised at $800, add taxes and fees and you pay almost double the normal price. I don’t need a new gun but it still sucks, I don’t think it’s going to return to normal in the near future.

    • You’re really out of touch with the prices in years past wehn $800 was not bad. And today can buy a good quality AR that says RUGER or SW on the side vs KnockoffColtPOS.

      Buy them now for every member of the household, and their spouse to be, and future grandkids. With mags and ammo (if you can find it/is over priced).

  12. Most of us want to have a good income but don’t know how to do that on the Internet there are a lot of methods to earn a huge sum, but whenever Buddies try that they get trapped in a scam/fraud so I thought to share with you a genuine and guaranteed method for free to earn a huge sum of money at home anyone of you interested should visit the page. I am more than sure that you will get the best result. Best Of Luck with the New Initiative…Here For MORE INFO PLEASE just check this SITE………… http://www.right75.com

  13. Millions of stimulus dollars have gone to reinforce the arsenals of the nations gun owners and I would say stock others who previously did not have guns. I would say thanks but we will speak when you socialists reach some limit that you would be foolish to cross

    • That’s a very hilarious thought. Stimulus checks = guns and ammo sales. I am now for stimulus.

Comments are closed.