Gun Haters Lose Again: Americans Post Another 1-Million-Plus Gun Purchase Month

While gun-ban advocates and anti-gun politicians continue to push laws to limit availability of common firearms to lawful citizens, gun owners and prospective gun owners are responding as usual—purchasing more firearms.

Instead of being cowed and suffering in silence, proud Americans voted with their checkbooks again in September, sending background check numbers over the 1-million mark for the 14^th month in a row. That leaves only one month—July 2025—with under 1 million gun sales in the past seven years.

The September National Shooting Sports Foundation-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,152,077 is a decrease of 2.3% compared to the September 2025 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,179,424. However, it is an increase of 90,194 over last month’s total. For comparison, the unadjusted September 2026 FBI NICS figure of 1,843,700 reflects a 0.8% decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 1,858,763 in September 2025.

Additionally, the third quarter 2026 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 3,329,270 reflects a 2.5% increase from the third quarter 2025 figure of 3,249,497.

“Background checks for firearm sales at retail continue to remain strong and steady, with at least over 1.1 million firearms lawfully transferred,” said Mark Oliva, NSSF managing director of public relations. “Second Amendment rights matter to Americans, and they prove that month after month.”

Along with the increased background checks for firearms transfers, sales of NFA items like suppressors remain very brisk, despite the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives leaving sellers and buyers in limbo for the past two months awaiting further guidance on a court ruling striking down the NFA’s registration requirement.

According to the NSSF, the September 2026 NFA figure of 149,614 is up 129.2% from the September 2025 figure of 65,273.

“This is the direct result of NSSF working with Congress and the Trump administration to remove burdensome tax stamp fees previously required to obtain a suppressor at retail,” Oliva said. “Americans are showing that when barriers are removed to lawful firearm and firearm accessory ownership, they will make that investment, in this case, to preserve their hearing. NSSF continues to press Congress to pass the Hearing Protection Act (HPA), which would remove suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA) and allow recreational marksmen and hunters to purchase them through the same background check process as purchasing a firearm.”

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. Because state laws, local market conditions, and purchase scenarios vary, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.

Although not directly correlated to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data offer an additional view of current market conditions. Beyond other uses, NICS verifies transactions for the sale or transfer of new or used firearms. 

Notably, 28 states have at least one qualified alternative permit that, under the Brady Act, allows a permit holder who has undergone a background check to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without a separate background check for that transfer. These states’ NICS check counts do not include these legal transfers based on qualifying permits, so the actual number of gun sales is likely much higher.