NSSF: Adjusted NICS Background Checks Increase 4.0 Percent in July

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported that the July 2024 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure increased 4.0 percent year-over-year to 1,064,790, compared to the July 2023 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,023,903.

The July figure marks the first year-over-year monthly increase since December 2023, but the numbers still pale in comparison to the last general election year increase in 2020 and also fall short of the 2016 level.

The NSSF is celebrating that July marks 60 consecutive months, or five years, of over one million monthly NSSF-Adjusted FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verifications for the sale of a firearm at retail.

The NSSF said, “This milestone is demonstrative of Americans’ desire to lawfully exercise their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes.”

The last time monthly background checks associated with the sale of a firearm at retail were below one million was July 2019, when the FBI recorded 830,579 background checks for firearm sales. Since then, NICS has recorded over one million background checks associated with the sale of at least one firearm at retail each month.

“This mile marker shows the enduring appeal by Americans from all walks of life to exercise their uniquely American right to keep and bear arms,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF president and CEO. “These million-plus monthly background checks over the past five years represent the free expression of Second Amendment rights during tough and troubling times, including the COVID-19 pandemic when certain governors were shuttering gun stores and the Biden-Harris administration’s ‘zero-tolerance‘ policy to revoke licenses to sell firearms. During this time, Americans who had never previously considered lawful firearm ownership decided to become gun owners. We’re proud of our industry’s work to provide the means to exercise those rights to law-abiding citizens across the country.”

NSSF said the five years of million-plus monthly background checks included record setting years for lawful firearm ownership.

“The month with the most background checks for firearm sales ever recorded was in March 2020, when 2.3 million background checks were completed,“ NSSF noted. “That year—2020—over 21 million background checks for the sale of a firearm had been completed by the year’s end.“

That month shattered the previous annual record set in 2016 of 15.7 million completed background checks.

NSSF said that during these five years of million-plus background checks each month, 86,410,889 FBI NICS background checks have been completed for the sale of at least one firearm at retail. NSSF said it was “grateful for the diligence and ability of FBI NICS to meet the staggering demands year-over-year.”

NSSF said in its report that 24 states “have at least one qualified alternative permit, which, under the Brady Act, allows the permit holder, who has undergone a background check to obtain the permit, to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without a separate additional background check for that transfer.” The number of NICS checks in these states “does not include these legal transfers based on qualifying permits, and NSSF does not adjust for these transfers.”

The adjusted NICS data, as explained by NSSF, were derived by a specific process subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks and checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF initiated the practice of subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.

While the NSSF-adjusted NICS data may not directly reflect firearms sales, it does offer a comprehensive view of current market conditions. NICS, in addition to its other functions, is a tool for checking transactions involving the sale or transfer of new or used firearms.

These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars. Based on varying state laws, local market conditions and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.

Image courtesy Bass Pro Shop, Data/Chart courtesy NSSF