The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 13 percent drop in firearm background checks in May compared to the prior month.
According to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, firearm background checks in May totaled just under 1.87 million, down from 2.1 million in April but up from nearly 1.6 million in May 2015. The NICS said the data does not represent the number of firearms sold and a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale due to varying state laws and purchase scenarios.
More than half the total checks were identified as permits, leaving 937,833 checks as likely gun sales.
While the raw figure is down by about 280,000 from April, the figure is still roughly 290,000 more than last May and continuing a record-setting pace for 2016. So far this year, the FBI reported 11.7 million checks, or 2.8 million more than this time last year.
Of the checks, 512,406 were for handguns, 315,716 for long guns, 15,726 for “other,” meaning frames or firearms that are not handgun nor long guns, and leaving 93,985 for miscellaneous transactions.
