As the NSSF revealed once again earlier today, we live in a country with far more guns that citizens. The anti-gun left blows a gasket each time the true extent of Americans’ firearm ownership is revealed and the NSSF’s numbers will probably send them into new paroxysms of hoplophobic hysteria.
They can’t conceive of why anyone needs even one gun, let alone a safe full. So the added news that the pace of gun buying is increasing won’t make for a happy holiday season for the gun-grabbing community.
They’ll claim this is more evidence of a sick, violent society when FBI statistics show the opposite is true. More guns have coincided with (resulted in?) far less violent crime.
Nothing gets people out to buy more firearms like perceived threats to their gun rights. As the NSSF chart above shows, gun stores were plenty busy over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
While the FBI’s adjusted NICS numbers only show a modest 2% increase over last year, 2019 is still on pace to set a new background check all-time record.
The Associated Press puts it this way . . .
Background checks on gun purchases in the U.S. are climbing toward a record high this year, reflecting what the industry says is a rush by people to buy weapons in reaction to the Democratic presidential candidates’ calls for tighter restrictions.
By the end of November, more than 25.4 million background checks — generally seen as a strong indicator of gun sales — had been conducted by the FBI, putting 2019 on pace to break the record of 27.5 million set in 2016, the last full year President Barack Obama was in the White House.
The 2020 field of Democrats have certainly done their part, as have promises of the imposition of more gun control laws in states like Virginia.
The crowded field of Democrats running for the White House has offered a variety of proposals to curtail gun rights. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, whose state has seen repeated mass shootings in the last year, went so far as to push for a mandatory buyback program for AR- and AK-style rifles before dropping out of the race, stoking gun owners’ fears when he declared during a debate, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”
As the NSSF notes in their press release below, there are 25 states that don’t require background checks for gun purchases to current permit holders, so actual sales volume is likely significantly higher.
The November 2019 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,342,155 is an increase of 2.1 percent compared to the November 2018 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,314,193. For comparison, the unadjusted November 2019 FBI NICS figure 2,545,863 reflects a 7.7 percent increase from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,363,705 in November 2018.
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.
Recently, the states of Alabama and Minnesota had law changes that affected their Brady Law standing which removed qualifying alternate permits usage for firearm transactions. These changes went into effect July 22, 2019 for Alabama and October 19, 2018 for Minnesota.
In November 2019, Alabama state’s NSSF-adjusted NICS was 122.4 percent higher than November 2018 which accounts for an additional 27,959 checks over this time last year. Likewise, Minnesota’s NSSF-adjusted NICS for November 2019 was 29.2 percent higher than November 2018 which accounts for an additional 5,589 checks over the same time period.
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.
