July 2024 Made 60 Consecutive Months of Over 1 Million Background Checks per Month for Gun Purchases

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) announced Monday that July 2024 was the 60th consecutive month of more than one million background checks for gun sales at retail.

According to NSSF, the total number of National Instant Criminal Background Checks for gun sales in July was was 1,06,790.

“The last time monthly background checks associated with the sale of a firearm at retail were below 1 million was July 2019, when 830, 579 background checks for firearm sales were recorded,” NSSF noted.

NSSF president and CEO Joe Bartozzi commented:

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 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.

Breitbart News has pointed out numerous times that monthly FBI reports on the number of background checks do not provide a precise figure on the number of gun sales in a given month. This is because some states regularly run background checks on concealed carry permit holders as well as checks on those applying for a permit for the first time, and neither instance is the result of a gun being sold.

NSSF goes through the FBI’s background check report, whittles it down until only background checks for actual sales are left, then publishes that figure. It is that final figure that has remained over one million a month for 60 consecutive months.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.