March 2018 Gun Sales Highest In a Year and a Half
Kevin Felts 04.03.18
The Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February of 2018 not only spurred another national debate on gun control, it also caused a surge in gun sales.
At the start of every month the FBI publishes the number of background checks ran through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The numbers provide a rough estimate of how many firearms were sold for a given month.
Private sales, multiple purchases using a single check, and sales which were not ran through NICS are not included in the numbers. Neither are declined sales excluded. The numbers are just that, the number of times a NICS check was performed.
NICS background checks for 2018:
- January 2018: 2,030,530
- February 2018: 2,333,193
- March 2018: 2,767,699
To put the numbers into perspective, in the past year and a half the most active months were:
- November 2016: 2,561,281
- December 2016: 2,771,159
- December 2017: 2,586,138
- March 2018: 2,767,699
It would appear the Great Trump Slump is over, at least for now anyway.
Panic Buying
The spike in gun sales can probably be attributed to panic buying, which is in response to revived gun control efforts. When Donald Trump was elected president, he assured the people he would defend our right to keep and bear arms.
However, polls (probably the same ones who said Hillary would win) are predicting Democrats winning seats during the 2018 mid-term elections. If Democrats do win the House, chances are they will not have enough votes to override a veto.
Even though President Trump said he was a friend of gun owners, it appeared as if he threw us under the bus with the bump stock ban. By talking about gun control, is President Trump standing by his campaign promises? Time will tell.
One thing is for sure, gun companies needed a shot in the arm, and things are starting to look up. Does this mean the buyers market is over?
