FBI background checks, as adjusted by the NSSF, improved 3.4 percent in January to 988,160 from 955,466 in January 2018. The gain marked the first year-over-year improvement since March 2018.
For comparison, the unadjusted January 2019 FBI NICS figure 2.15 million reflects a 7.7 percent increase from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2.0 million in January 2018.
The gain follows NICS checks of negative 7.8 percent in December, and negative 9.9 percent in November. Retail Calendar Q4 NICS checks are down 5.9 percent, compared to negative 9.0 percent in Q318.
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.
