Gun sales remain near record levels in April

By , Stephen Gutowski

Published May 24, 2017

The number of gun-related background checks in April remained near record levels, FBI statistics released on Monday show.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) ran 2,045,564 gun-related checks in April. That represents a decrease of about a hundred thousand checks from the all-time record for the month of April set in 2016. It also is a drop of almost four hundred thousand from March as the gun industry enters its seasonal low period.

An analysis of the raw NICS numbers from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) shows that sales may actually be higher than last April. The group's analysis strips out NICS checks that are conducted for gun-carry permits or other checks that aren't related to sales. The analysis found that 1,111,596 checks were related to sales, a small increase from the same period last year.

"The April 2017 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is an increase of 0.04 percent compared to the April 2016 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,111,205," the NSSF said in a release.

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