Record breaking gun sales continued once again in the month of February.
There were 2,613,074 firearms-related background checks performed by the FBI over the 29 days in February, a record for the month. February is now the ninth month in a row that has seen a record number of checks. The month saw fewer checks than the single-month record set in December 2015, but also saw an increase in checks over last month.
This February’s numbers bested the previous record, set in 2013, by more than 300,000 checks. In the first two months of 2016, there were 5,158,876 checks run through the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System. That’s more than half the 10,036,933 checks run in all of 2006, just a decade ago.
This year is a continuation of a record-setting trend, which began in 2015. February 2016 is the tenth month in a row to set a record. 2015 also holds the all-time record for background checks in a single year.
FBI background checks are considered a reliable gauge of how many guns have been sold in a given period of time. All gun sales made through federally licensed gun dealers must include a background check. Some states also require all sales between private parties to include a background check.
