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Gun sales surged in June, according to data released Wednesday, exceeding the same month last year and smashing the all-time record.
According to FBI data, more than 3.9 million background checks were processed through the bureau’s NICS database in June, a record for the month. The number of checks is an indicator of how many guns are sold, though the correlation isn’t precise. Licensed dealers are required to run a check in the database every time they make a sale. Checks are also processed when individuals seek a license to carry a firearm.
Sales have been driven by Americans seeking handguns in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and uprisings across the country. “The boom in handgun sales has been particularly noticeable in recent months,” Jurgen Brauer, chief economist for Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, said in June.
Brauer’s firm estimated that gun purchasers acquired 2.3 million firearms for the month, an increase of 145.3 percent compared to June 2019. The figure includes a 177.5 percent increase in hand gun sales (for a total of 1,511,714) and a 114.3 percent increase in long-gun sales (for a total of 690,212).
Gun sales routinely hit record-highs under former President Barack Obama, often when the president threatened regulatory crackdowns. Sales fell briefly after President Donald Trump’s 2016 election but hit another record in 2019, when 28.3 million background checks were conducted.
A total of 19,180,047 background checks were processed during the first six months of 2020, putting the country on track to set a new record this year.