Indiana: Background Checks Up More Than 100 Percent from 2015

Year-to-date, the number of background checks for gun purchases in Indiana is up more than 100 percent.

According to the South Bend Tribune, there were more than one million background checks in Indiana in 2015, which set a record. This year is on track not simply to break that record, but to shatter it, as 302,672 background checks were conducted in the first four months of 2015, but 730,000 were conducted for that same time period in 2016.

This surge in background checks is also part of a year-by-year increase that began in 2004. Since then, each year has witnessed a higher number of background checks than the year before. The increase, however, in the number of checks in the first four months of 2016 compared to the first four months of 2015 is unprecedented.

The surge appears to be driven by an invigorated focus on self-defense, as handguns are driving gun sales in the Hoosier state.

Rocco Rigsby, the retail manager at Midwest Gun Exchange in Mishawaka, said, “We’re seeing more and more first-time buyers with concerns about their own safety, for their home and out in public. Personal protection handguns are something people are really focusing on right now.”

Breitbart News previously reported FBI figures showing that background checks have broken monthly records nationally for 12 consecutive months. The record-breaking streak began in May 2015.

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.