US gun sales top 1 million for 49 consecutive months

Gun sales across the United States reached over 1 million for 49 consecutive months, according to new data even as the Biden administration tries to crack down on firearms.

The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System showed just over 2 million federal background checks occurred in August 2023. When the figure was adjusted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation to more accurately reflect likely retail firearms sales, that number decreased to nearly 1.12 million checks last month, according to Guns.com.

"This has happened every month for more than four years continuously," Mark Oliva, the foundation's public affairs officer, said. 

"While the Biden administration proposes rules to infringe on fundamental American rights and certain governors, attorneys general and district attorneys general and district attorneys refuse to lock up criminals that prey on communities without consequence, Americans are sending a clear and unequivocal message that their personal safety, and the free exercise of their rights, is non-negotiable," Oliva also said.

President Joe Biden has urged conservative lawmakers to support what he calls his "meaningful, commonsense" restrictions on firearms purchases following several recent mass shootings.

Biden said in November that he would "try like the devil" to enact a federal assault weapons ban.

The president signed an executive order in March to support the increased use of background checks and "red flag" laws, which allow for firearms to be temporarily confiscated from people determined by officials to be a threat to others or themselves.  

An appeals court last month dealt a blow to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' efforts to regulate pistol braces in a ruling that stated that the government's initial proposal was dramatically different from the rule that was ultimately finalized.

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.