October 2020 was the tenth straight month of record National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background checks for gun sales.
FBI figures show 3,305,465 NICS checks were conducted, surpassing the previous record of 2,393,609, set in October 2019.
On October 4, 2020, Breitbart News reported that September was the ninth consecutive month of record checks, which means there were more checks in September 2020 than in any September on record, just as there were more checks in August 2020 than any August on record, more in July 2020 than any July on record, and so forth.
The surge in gun sales has been unprecedented, with the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) estimating the number of first-time gun buyers at nearly five million from January 1, 2020, through July 31, 2020. Reuters reported the number of NICS checks conducted March 2020 through July 2020 was up 93 percent, when compared to the same time period in 2019.
In mid-September 2020, Breitbart News reported the rush for guns had become so intense that the FBI’s NICS platform was giving a higher number of delays and, in many cases, allowing the sale to be completed because time for the check expired.
Ammunition sales have been surging as well. The NSSF indicated that ammunition sales were up 139 percent in the first six months of 2020, as compared to sales during the first six months of 2019.
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 at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.