Just over two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation and brought with it massive changes to life as we know it. In that time, firearms ownership soared, breaking records in 2020. This trend continued through 2021 to today; in fact, in April more than 1.35 million background checks were conducted for the purchase of a firearm, according to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
As this trend has now continued for years, this is the “new normal” in firearms sales. The past two years provide “all the evidence needed to know that law-abiding citizens are turning out by the million each month to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” says to Mark Oliva, the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) managing director of public affairs.
This April’s total is the third-highest on record, surpassed only by the two years prior. The new statistics show that there is a steady and sustained appetite for lawful firearm ownership in America. April’s figure continues the streak of more than one million background checks for the sale of a firearm for 33 months.
The NSSF-adjusted numbers are calculated by taking the raw number of NICS background checks conducted and subtracting those unlikely to be used in the purchase of a firearm to better reflect the number of Americans embracing this constitutional right.
Indeed, this has come to be a “new normal” as Americans have—and continue to—weather the long-term effects of COVID, as well as the egregious policies and proposals from the Biden administration, to exercise their freedom.
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