While Democrat presidential candidate after Democrat presidential candidate has pushed gun control, Americans have been filing into retailers to purchase firearms.
In fact, FBI figures for firearm purchase background checks–performed via the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)–show that October 2019 was the third consecutive month of record checks.
There were 2,366,824 checks NICS checks in August 2019, the highest number in any August since the adoption of background checks. Likewise, there were 2,207,312 in September 2019, setting a record for that month as well.
And October 2019 saw 2,393,609 background checks, for the third consecutive record month this year.
It is important to note that background checks numbers are not an exact indicator of the number of gun sales that occurred, and there are many reasons for this.
For one, a background check is done on the purchaser not the gun, and the purchaser could purchase multiple guns with each background check.
Secondly, some background checks are done for concealed carry licenses, etc., so they do not represent gun sales.
However, the recording setting rise in background checks does indicate that gun sales rose, and did so at a time when candidates like Robert “Beto” O’Rourke were saying, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.” Which was the same time frame in which Joe Biden was pushing firearm registration, gun owner licensing, and lawsuits against gun manufacturers and Elizabeth Warren was pushing an excise tax to reduce firearm sales.
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. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.