Firearms Background Checks Expand 19 Percent In January

Firearms background checks, as adjusted by the NSSF, reached 1.17 million in January against 988,160 in January 2019, a gain of 18.6 percent.

For comparison, the unadjusted January 2020 FBI NICS figure 2.65 million reflects a 23.3 percent increase from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2.15 million in January 2019.

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.

In 2019, adjusted firearms background checks rose for the first time in three years. Checks were up 0.2 percent to 13.2 million from 13.17 million in 2018.  Checks had slid 5.7 percent in 2018 and 11.0 percent in 2017.

Photo courtesy NICB