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.
