Firearms Sales Continue to Climb in March
NEWTOWN,
Conn. -- Firearm sales continued to surge across the country for the
fifth straight month, extending a trend that began after the November
elections. The increase also follows recent comments by several
high-profile members of the Obama administration about re-imposing
permanently and expanding the ban on modern sporting rifles.
Data
from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)
show background checks on the sale of firearms jumped 29.2 percent in
March when compared to March 2008 and were up 27.1 percent for the
first quarter of 2009 over the same quarter last year.
The
increase follows a 23 percent rise in February, a 28 percent rise in
January, a 24 percent rise in December and a 42 percent jump in
November, when a record 1,529,635 background checks were performed.
FBI
background checks are required under federal law for all individuals
purchasing firearms from federally licensed retailers. These checks
serve as a strong indicator of actual sales.
Correspondingly, ammunition manufacturers are reporting record sales across the country as demand continues to outpace supply.
Americans
concerned about their ability to purchase many types of home defense,
hunting and target shooting firearms in the future are continuing to
purchase these products in record numbers today," said NSSF President
Steve Sanetti. "Along with this strong sales showing, we've also seen
increased participation in firearm safety and education programs such
as NSSF First Shots."
NICS reported 1,345,096 checks in March, up from 1,040,863 in the same month a year ago.
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That only indicates sales from federally licensed retailers. What about sales from other retailers where FBI background checks were not required. I suspect that most of the people who used a gun (or guns ) in the act of committing a crime did not have to go through the FBI background check to obtain the gun, otherwise they would likely have been turned down due to tripping at least one read flag.
Sorry you have no idea what you are talking about. All retailers must do background checks on gun sales. Some states allow sales of personaly owned guns but only within the state to another state resident. All sales that cross state lines require an FFL which means background check when sold.
What is legally allowed is one thing. What actually happens is a different story. What about the Columbine massacre. There was no background check there. The main point I was putting accross is that those 1.2 million backgroud checks for gun purchases do not cover all the gun sales that actually occurred.
April 6th, 2009 4:09 pm ET
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Why is it that you can report a story like this but it took Fox to uncover that the number of guns used in crimes in Mexico from the US is only about 17% of the guns used in crimes in Mexico not the 90% number the administration “cooked” up. Also why is that it took fox to report that almost all multiple killings involving guns are comitted in zones posted as “Gun Free” zones. Do you think your reporting is a little biased??