April Background Checks: Strong Numbers Continue

The FBI released National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) data this week and the numbers tell an interesting story. 

There were just over two million NICS checks last month (2,045,564 to be exact). 

While some who write headlines for a living may want you to believe we’re in a “funk” in firearms sales since President Obama left the White House, that shortsighted view neglects to consider that April 2017 was the second busiest April ever for NICS and the 21^st busiest month of all time. There were only about 100,000 fewer background checks last month than in April 2016. 

That is pretty good, especially when one considers that the greatest firearms salesman of all time just left office and we, thankfully, have relief from the constant threat to 2^nd Amendment rights posed by President Obama and his would-be successor, Hillary Clinton.

Obviously, a multitude of Americans purchased a firearm last month without the concern that they had to do so before they lost the opportunity to exercise their Constitutionally-protected rights. At least two million NICS checks have been conducted in each month since President Trump took office – again, without the looming threat of an anti-gun administration or Congress. 

What this suggests is that while NICS records are no longer being broken every month, Americans’ exercise of their firearms freedom is not reactionary or panic-driven. So far, 8.7 million NICS checks have been run this year. That’s the second most all-time for January through April (2016 was first).  Those attempting to claim the gun industry is “singing the blues” had better retune their narrative.

Records set during the Obama era may not be reset every month under Trump’s Administration. That doesn’t mean firearms sales or interest in self-defense or the shooting sports are receding – when considered with the pro-gun allies in the White House and Congress, the NICS data shows just the opposite.