The May 2022 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) slipped 11.3 percent to 1.17 million compared to the May 2021 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1.32 million.
For comparison, the unadjusted May 2022 FBI NICS figure of 2.27 million reflects a 29.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 3.2 million in May 2021. 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.
The trend for this year continues as May 2022 figures are over a million and are the third strongest for the month on record, surpassed only by May 2021 and May 2020.
NICS firearms background checks were down 19.7 percent in April, 18.3 percent in March, 2.5 percent in February and 40.9 percent in January.
