July highest all-time for background checks on firearm sales

Unadjusted data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,069,792 checks in July 2010, ranking the month the highest July for most NICS checks. This figure represents an increase of 10.7 percent over checks in July 2009. The total number of background checks reported since the beginning of NICS is 118,006,677. (FBI NICS disclaimer: These figures indicate the number of background checks requested. They do not indicate firearm transfers.)

As NICS can be used for a variety of purposes such as state permit checks on CCW databases and applications, NSSF has created an adjusted monthly NICS figure by subtracting out the "permit" column on the monthly NICS purpose code reports. The July 2010 adjusted NICS figure of 628,125 is an increase of 4.3 percent over the adjusted figure of 602,353 in July 2009. As more states use NICS to check new CCW applicants and their active CCW databases, NSSF feels by subtracting the NICS checks used for "permit" checks, it will give a more accurate and reliable indicator of current market conditions.