Federal firearm background checks improved for the first month since the surprise presidential election of Donald Trump.
In May, FBI firearm background checks were up 3.7 percent to 1.94 million, up from 1.87 million in May 2016.
Under the Obama administration, background checks continually reached record levels over concerns that restrictive gun laws would arrive. The FBI processed more than 27.5 million NICS checks in 2016. Checks rose 14.2 percent in November and 18.0 percent in October in anticipation of a Hillary Clinton victory. Double-digit declines followed the election although the’ve lessoned in recent months.
In recent months, checks amounted to 2.04 versus 2.14 in April, 2.43 million versus 2.52 million in March, 2.23 million against 2.61 million in February, 2.04 million compared with 2.54 million in January, and 2.77 million versus 3.31 million in December.
