The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported that the October 2024 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure slipped 5.0 percent year-over-year, missing a typical bump that has occurred in past election-year cycles.
NSSF-adjusted NICS were 1,370,719, compared to the October 2023 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,302.857.
The decline reverses the slight upward trend from the previous several months. NSSF-adjusted background checks grew 1.3 percent year-over-year in September, 8.3 percent in August and 4.0 percent in July, although the July figure had marked the first year-over-year monthly increase since December 2023.
For comparison, the unadjusted October 2024 FBI NICS figure 2,298,383 reflects a 4.7 percent increase from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,194,313 in October 2023.
The October drop also came despite past election cycles seeing a spike in background checks due to concerns over potential restrictions with a new administration. In 2020, background checks surged in activity in the months before the presidential election.
October still represented the 63rd month in a row to exceed more than a million sales-related background checks. NSSF argued that was an indicator of how important Americans value their Second Amendment rights.
“Lawful gun ownership continues to be an important factor as Americans cast their ballots for the 2024 elections,” Mark Oliva, an NSSF spokesman, said in a statement. “Law-abiding Americans – by the tens of millions – are quite literally voting with their wallets and investing in their rights. These figures tell elected officials where America stands on support for the Second Amendment.”
Over the last five years, background checks have been down 7.4 percent at a compound annual growth rate.
The adjusted NICS data tally is calculated by subtracting the NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks and checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016. For comparison, the unadjusted August 2024 FBI NICS figure of 2,163,540 reflects a 5.7 percent increase from the unadjusted August 2023 FBI NICS figure of 2,047,512.
Charts courtesy of NSSF
