NICS for March, 2023 Fourth Highest March
for Gun Sales and Background Checks

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By Dean Weingarten. Apr 13, 2023

The National Instant background Check System (NICS) gun sales and background checks for March, 2023, are the fourth highest on record since recording of background checks started in 1999. In March of 2023, there were about 1.51 million gun sales and about 3.04 million background checks total. Having about half of background checks done for gun sales falls well within the expected range in recent years. In some instances, gun sales have been less than 40% of total background checks done in a month.

The highest number of gun sales recorded in March was in 2020, with about 2.37 million. Then next highest was in 2021, with about 2.00 million gun sales. The third highest was in 2022, with about 1.62 million guns sold in with NICS. March of 2023 had about 1.51 million gun sales, and March of 2013 had about 1.47 million gun sales. The reader can easily see the trend. Gun sales have reached a "new normal" in the last few years.

The number of background checks done shows a similar pattern. 2020, 2021 and 2022 all had more background checks done than in 2023. The first quarter of 2023 shows a bit over four million guns sold through the NICS system, from previous years, we can estimate about 87% of those are new guns, increasing the private stock of firearms in the United States by 3.50 million. .....