Surprise! Americans still want every single firearm that gun makers can possibly turn out. But if you’ve been anywhere near a gun retailer in the last few months, you probably knew that already.
The FBI published their NICS background check total for August yesterday. Now the NSSF has massaged the data to get at their monthly adjusted total which is a better reflection of the background checks that represent actual gun sales (without checks done for permits, etc.)
The tale of the tape is this: August adjusted background checks totaled 1,684,083, an increase of 51.2 percent over the August 2019.
As the NSSF’s Mark Oliva told us,
August’s adjusted NICS figures of nearly 1.7 million background checks associated with the sale of a firearm are in line with the months-long trend we’ve witnessed since March, when figures topped an all-time one-month record of 2.3 million. Each month since April, adjusted NICS figures averaged between 1.6 and 1.8 million.
August’s figures are a record-high for the month over all previous years and show us that concerns for personal safety and self-defense continue to remain a priority for law-abiding Americans.
The sustained pace of firearm sales proves that law-abiding Americans are turning out by the millions to exercise their God-given right to keep and bear arms. News reports of violent attacks, riots, looting are coupled with calls to defund police continue. NSSF estimates that nearly 5 million of these firearm purchases were made by people who never previously owned a firearm.
Americans are witnessing gun control politicians refuse to enforce penalties on violent criminals while at the same time actively working to deny those who obey the law the ability protect themselves. These sales figures are proof that Americans refuse to be compliant victims to violent criminals who prey on the most vulnerable of our society.
Oh, and as always, the NSSF’s adjusted number above doesn’t reflect all retail gun sales. Here’s the NSSF’s standard caveat to the monthly adjusted NICS numbers:
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.
Michigan had law changes that affected their Brady Law standing which removed qualifying alternate permits usage for firearm transactions. These changes went into effect March 3, 2020.NSSF-adjusted NICS for the state of Michigan in August 2020 were 219.5 percent higher than August 2019 which accounts for an additional 43,237 checks over the same time period.
