FBI: January Was Ninth Consecutive Month of Record Background Checks

The FBI reports that January 2016 was the ninth consecutive month of record background checks for gun purchases in the U.S.

This trend began in May–when May witnessed more background checks than any May on record–and continued throughout the year as each following month–June through December–set a record as well. In other words, June 2015 had more background checks that any June on record, July 2015 more background checks than any July on record, and so on and so forth.

On top of this, December not only witnessed more background checks than any December on record but also more than any single month on record–period. The number of background checks in December alone was 3,314,593, which beat the previous record of 2,783,765 by over half a million.

This is why Breitbart News labeled 2015 “The Year of the Gun.”

And now, the latest figures on background checks show that 2016 has started as strongly as 2015 ended. According to the FBI, there were 2,545,802 background checks in January 2016. That breaks the previous January record of 2,495,440, which was set in 2013, during the height of Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) push for more gun control.

It should always be noted that every purchaser who passes a background check can buy multiple guns. So a month in which there were 2,545,802 background checks could easily be a month in which 5,091,604 guns were sold at retail outlets–if every purchaser bought two guns. And even more guns may have sold if some purchasers bought three guns or more.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.