Americans underwent over 21 million background checks and purchased nearly 23 million firearms during 2020.
Fox Business reports that 21 million-plus background checks represent an increase of “60 percent from 2019.” Moreover, the number of background checks conducted in 2020 broke the 2016 record by 34 percent.
Breitbart News tracked these record background checks throughout last year as each month — January 2020 through December 2020 — set a record for the most background checks in its respective month.
For example, January 2020 witnessed more background checks than any January in history, February 2020 more background checks than any February in history, March 2020 more than any March in history, and so it went all the way through December 2020.
Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting estimates nearly 23 million firearms were sold during 2020, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation indicates over 8.4 million first-time gun buyers were among those making purchases last year.
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.