May 2024 Continues Trend of Over a Million Guns Sold a Month

AmmoLand ^ | June 17, 2024 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) numbers are in for May 2024. NICS shows May of 2024 to be the sixth highest number of NICS checks for May in the 25 years recorded. Gun sales are no longer reliably tied to the NICS checks because the checks are used for many other purposes than gun sales. The FBI system shows checks done for various categories of gun sales individually. This allows an estimate of gun sales to be calculated separately from the overall NICS checks.

The number of gun sales is an estimate because one NICS check can be used for multiple sales. Twenty-four states have at least one type of permit, which allows for gun sales based on the background check done to obtain the permit. Most private sales are not recorded in the NICS system. The vast majority of homemade guns are not recorded in the NICS system. Destruction of guns is not recorded in the NICS system.

NSSF-Adjusted NICS Annual Totals

Four types of gun sales shown by NICS for 2023 (lines) and 2024 (bars)

While the numbers for gun sales from NICS are an estimate, they are likely to be close to reality. Homemade guns tend to offset destruction of guns. Private sales are mostly of guns that came through the system at one time or another. They do not increase or decrease the number of guns in the private stock. As a means of determining how many guns are in the private stock of the United States population, NICS is a good estimate for month-to-month comparisons. For long-term numbers over years and decades, records maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive (ATF) are available.

[marktwain]

Gun sales continue to be over 1 million a month, even as sales slowly drop since the record year of 2020.

[marktwain]

You can see the decrease in annual sales since 2020. The numbers are still very high.

2024 monthly numbers of the four types of gun sales recordeded by NICS, compared to 2023. 2023 numbers are shown as lines. 2024 numbers as bars.

[mikelets456]

Are gun owners voting? Our minions in charge continue to push anti gun lies and crap as if 99% of the country is against guns.

[marktwain]

Gun owners are almost by definition, elegible to vote.

Yes, they are voting. Most polls are made to create public opinion, not measure it.

It is likely over half of households in the USA have a legally owned firearm, and over a third of adults personally own a gun.

Not all are voting, but they are a significant force at the polls.

[PGalt]

Good

[PGalt]

“and how we burned in the camps later thinking: What would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive....

...the organs would have quickly suffered a shortage of officers....

...We didn’t love freedom enough....”

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

[kawhill]

Yes that’s good. My son is an FFL dealer here in Kansas and he says: “Business is booming Dad”.

[CapnJack]

I’d love to pick up either a M1 Carbine or 1903A3 from the CMP this year if funds allow.

[kawhill]

I bought an M1 Garand from the CMP about three months ago. Beautiful rifle, Harrington & Richardson receiver. Would love to find one with a Singer Sewing Machine receiver, but I suspect they are pretty rare and a bit pricey.

[rktman]

Not all gun owners are conservative.

[Lee N. Field]

Doing my part.

(ordered a stainless version of my snub, since the carbon steel version rusts at the drop of a hat next to my body.)

[circlecity]

Wonder how many of those are being bought by illegal aliens.

[Big Red Badger]

“How We Burned in The Camps...”
.

[moovova]

Sounds like I’m falling behind.

[Man from Oz]

I picked one up a few years ago at an Estate auction. Fun as heck to shoot!