The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported that the May 2025 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure slipped 1.6 percent year-over-year.
NSSF-adjusted NICS were 1,071,685, compared to the May 2024 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,089,117. The decline has continued a downward trend since October 2024, except for a slight increase in January 2025.
May marked the 70th consecutive month of exceeding one million sales-related background checks.
Additional insights on the month-over-month NICS data from GunBroker, NICS Reporting & Analysis (May 2025 data), available in the member portal under Industry Research, include:
- Top 5 states for adjusted NICS Checks: TX, FL, CA, PA, CO
- Top 5 states for FBI NICS Handgun Checks: TX, FL, PA, CA, CO
- Top 5 states for FBI NICS Long Gun Checks: TX, PA, FL, CA, CO
Twenty-four states have at least one qualified alternative permit, which, under the Brady Act, allows a permit holder who has undergone a background check to obtain the permit and purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without undergoing an 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 the NSSF does not adjust for these transfers.
The adjusted NICS data subtracts out NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks and checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.
For comparison, the unadjusted May 2025 FBI NICS figure of 1,998,440 reflects a 0.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,000,505 in May 2024.
Image courtesy Sig Sauer
