Another Record-Setting Month For Gun Sales

posted on February 5, 2016
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **

The Federal Bureau of Investigation ran more background checks for gun sales last month than any January ever. The 2,545,802 checks processed in the first month of this year bested the previous record, set in January 2013, by more than 50,000. In fact, January 2016 was just the latest in a string of record-breaking months for background checks and gun sales, with May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December of 2015 also setting records. 

While January’s numbers are lower than the all-time single month record set in December 2015, it is the third month in a row with more than 2 million background checks. Although not a perfect measure, the number of background checks processed by the FBI is often used as a gauge for the number of gun sales.

Latest

suppressors.jpeg
suppressors.jpeg

More than a Quarter Million Suppressor eForms Have Been Processed by the ATF this Month

When the $200 tax stamp on suppressors and other restricted items was set to be zeroed out at midnight on December 31, 2025, last summer, it was a given that demand would explode on January 1, 2026.

Fourth Circuit Reaffirms That the Second Amendment Does Not End at the Storefront Door

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down Maryland’s attempt to impose a sweeping “default ban” on lawful concealed carry on private property open to the public.

The U.S. Supreme Court Hears Wolford v. Lopez

Today (January 20), the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Hawaii’s ban on carrying guns on private property that is open to the public—at least unless the property owner has given express consent for the carrying of guns.

What the Supreme Court Justices Said About Hawaii’s Carry Restrictions

The U.S. Supreme Court heard Wolford v. Lopez. It is a challenge to Hawaii’s law banning citizens with permits to carry handguns from going armed on any private property in the state unless the property owner has given express permission to do so. Here is what was said.

 

Women On Target Program Equips Women

On Sept. 20, 2025, the sound of gunfire carried across the 110-acre grounds of the Arlington-Fairfax Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America in Fairfax County, Va. But this wasn’t just another day at the range.

North Carolina Vote on Constitutional Carry Delayed Again

The North Carolina House of Representatives rescheduled the veto override vote on Senate Bill 50, or the “Freedom to Carry NC,” to February 9, 2026.



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.