March blows past record for gun background checks amid coronavirus pandemic

The FBI ran more than 3.7 million background checks on Americans buying guns under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in March, smashing the previous record as Americans armed themselves amid growing fears about the coronavirus pandemic.

The NICS system ran 3,740,688 background checks in March, which is 33 percent higher than the previous record of more than 2.8 million, which was set in February. The February numbers were a 34 percent uptick from the same time in 2019. The NICS system has not run fewer than 2 million background checks in one month since September 2018.

Previous reports noted a large spike in sales of guns and ammo as the coronavirus pandemic quickly rose to the top of Americans' consciousness last month. March's background check numbers marked a 41 percent increase over March 2019.

NICS Firearm Checks - Month... by Fox News on Scribd

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