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In August, 2016 continued on its record breaking pace to become the year with the most gun sales ever.  In August the pace slowed slightly, while breaking the previous record from last year.  The 2016 NICS checks are far ahead of those for 2015, the previous record holder.In 2015, the total NICS checks for the year were 23,141,970 .  In 2015, through June, the numbers were 10,466,243.  Through July, they were 12,067,075.  Through August, 2015, they were 13,812,485. 1,853,815 checks were done in August, 2016 making 17,880,475 checks done for 2016 so far.2016 is about two months ahead of...

The Federal Government spends a billion dollars a year on on federal gun laws.  Most of that money is for enforcement of federal gun laws, but some of it is to push state and local governments toward infringing on the Second Amendment. From FY 2015 Budget Fact Sheets U.S DOJ(pdf): In 2013, the Administration proposed a range of legislative remedies – along with 23 executive actions – to address mass shootings and reduce gun violence. The Justice Department is working to implement a number of these actions and requests a total of $1.1 billion in FY 2015 to address...

2016 continues on its record breaking pace to become the year with the most gun sales ever.  It is not a squeaker.  2016 pulled ahead out of the gate and has been gaining ground ever since.  The 2016 NICS checks are far ahead of those for 2015, the previous record holder. In 2015, the total NICS checks for the year were 23,141,970 .  In 2015, through June, the numbers were 10,466,243.  Through July, they were 12,067,075.  Through August, 2015, they were 13,812,485. For 2016 through June they are 13,829,491.  For July, 2016, the record numbers continue. 2,197,169 checks were...

The number of gun-related background checks performed in July far exceeded those of any previous July, newly released numbers from the FBI show. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, processed nearly 2.2 million checks last month. That represents an increase of almost 600,000 checks over the previous record set last year. It is also an increase of more than a million checks over July 2011. The July record is the latest in a string of 15 record-setting months for firearm background checks. July also saw an increase over June’s numbers as the gun industry’s seasonal lull comes...

2016 continues on its record breaking pace to become the year with the most gun sales ever.  It is not a squeaker.  2016 pulled ahead out of the gate and has been gaining ground ever since.  The 2016 NICS checks are far ahead of those for 2015, the previous record holder.In 2015, the total NICS checks for the year were 23,141,970 .  In 2015, through June, the numbers were 10,466,243.  Through July, they were 12,067,075.  Through August, 2015, they were 13,812,485. For 2016 through June they are 13,829,491. 2016 is already two months ahead of the 2015 record.  It...

2016 has been breaking records for gun sales since it began.  In fact, records were being broken seven months before 2016 began.  We only have records until the end of May, but they show a clear trend.  If that trend were followed, then 2016 would have set the record for the most American gun sales in a year, ever. But that trend just got bumped, jumped, and Trumped.  It is now taking off like Falcon SpaceX rocket.  The reason, of course, is politics. The fact is, more than half of Americans associate guns with safety.  That trend has been...

In 2016, Americans continue to break records for gun sales.  While the National Instant Check System (NICS) does not track gun sales directly, the numbers are highly correlated. The numbers of NICS checks, and the increase in private firearms, have skyrocketed during the Obama administration.The total for 2016 through the end of May is 11,698,006 instant checks. That is more than the entire year of 2007, which held the record up to that year. Thus, during the Obama years, the number of private firearm sales has doubled.  In 2015, the highest year on record, the total number of checks...

Speaking in Cleveland, Ohio, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for unity in the wake of the tragic shooting in Orlando. Here are key moments from that speech.

Tim Macy, Chairman of Gun Owners of America, wrote an open letter to Second Amendment supporters exposing Republican presidential candidate John Kasich’s real anti-gun agenda.Labeling Kasich the “wolf in sheep’s clothing� still in the presidential race, Macy points to Kasich’s close relationship with Leftist, Communist, billionaire George Soros. In fact, the Soros Fund Management is one of John Kasich’s top financial contributors.“This can hardly be a surprise,� Macy writes. His full letter can be read here. An abbreviated version is below.Kasich and Soros share two important traits: (1) their desire to mess up the Republican selection process for devious motives,...

Once again, Barack Obama believed that the American People were not paying attention. After all, much of what he spoke about “correcting� at his tear-stained, anti-gun press conference was already law. The women of “The View� were predictably apoplectic about automatic weapons–machine guns–and outraged that they have not been banned. This was before Sen. Rand Paul patted their hands and told them not to fear, that such automatic weapons are available to the public only after obtaining a special license from the ATF. Just another straw man propped up by our Socialist in Chief to cause the American People to...

2015 was a record year for the National Instant Checks System (NICS), and for firearm sales. The previous record year was in 2013, another year in which President Obama put considerable effort into passing strict gun control, and failed. It is one of the few policies that President Obama has not been able to use his allies in the media to ram legislation through Congress. In 2013, there were 21,093,271 background checks completed through NICS, according to the FBI.  That amounted to 16,031,210 additional private firearms added to the stocks, according to the ATF. The numbers for NICS checks...

Armslist.com is an online classified site for people looking to sell firearms. Armslist doesn’t handle the transaction, they allow ads for people wanting to sell guns or gun related gear and the transaction is handled between the individual buyer and seller. “Today’s action regarding background checks is well-meaning, but ultimately ineffective.� Jon Gibbon, a principal at Armslist, stated to the Daily Caller. “The proposed actions do nothing to make useful information more available to private individuals.� Individuals visiting Armslist.com are required to agree to terms and conditions before using the site. Armslist even provides the contact information to the Bureau...

At the end of 2014, there were 12,881,223 people who were legally prohibited from possessing modern firearms on the NICS list of prohibited persons(pdf).  As can be seen from the chart below, obtained from the FBI, nearly half of those prohibited, 49.2%, are illegal aliens.  The next largest number are those who have been adjudicated with a mental health problem.  177,000 of the recent numbers are veterans  added by the veteran administration.  The total "mental defectives" is over 29% of the prohibited possessors in the NICS data base.  In 2007, only 10.15% of prohibited possessors were listed as mental...

The National Instant Check System (NICS)  performs a check when people buy firearms from federally licensed dealers in the United States.  It is also used to perform background checks on people applying for firearm carry permits in those states where such permits are required or offered by law.  As there are now over 15 million carry permits in the United States, and firearm sales numbers are in the 10 to 20 million range per year, you can see that the number of NICS checks is not a perfect fit for the number of firearms sold. One of the reasons...

Some news accounts report that Dylan Roof had been arrested for felony drug possession a bit over a month before he bought a gun. Others disagree, saying the arrest was for a misdemeanor. Here’s what FBI Director James Comey said: On April 11, Roof attempted to purchase a handgun from a store in West Columbia, South Carolina, a near suburb of Columbia. That day was a Saturday. On the next business day, April 13, an examiner in our West Virginia facility was assigned the case and began to process it. Her initial check of Roof’s criminal history showed that he...

Documents obtained by The Daily Caller and interviews with American veterans reveal a shocking government program: The Department of Veterans Affairs is disarming America’s veterans by getting them placed on the FBI’s criminal background-check list. The VA sends veterans’ personal medical and financial information directly to the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which can seize their guns in home raids. Veterans deemed mentally incompetent or financially incapable are finally speaking out about the errors in the system and the fearful harassment they and their families face from the federal government. And it all starts when vets...

Veterans, Dependents Account for Disproportionate Share of ‘Mental Defective’ Category on Gun Ban List Apr 15, 2015 WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is requesting an explanation for why nearly all of the names on the Justice Department’s gun ban list in the “mental defective” category belong to veterans or their dependents. “It’s disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve them. A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose...

January 10th: In Wisconsin, visitors from most other states can legally buy rifles and shotguns from federally licensed dealers.  However, due to antiquated rules, Wisconsin residents may not legally buy guns in other states, except those who share a common border with Wisconsin.  Those states are: Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan.   From whbl.com: UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News)   A state committee plans to vote next week on letting Wisconsinites buy rifles and shotguns from dealers throughout the nation. A federal law from 1968 banned interstate gun sales, but it allowed people to buy long guns from dealers in adjacent states....

Several prominent medical associations have voiced opposition to a proposed gun control rule to increase the number of mental health records shared with the national background check system, saying it would only contribute to the stigma against mental illness. . . , a key proposition to add mental health records to a national background check database has been vociferously opposed by medical groups. Many voice concern that adding people deemed "mentally unfit" to the national database would increase the stigma of mental illness and dissuade many from seeking help. . . . . . . Unlike the Manchin-Toomey Bill to...

Firearms have been flying off shelves across the country amid calls from some lawmakers to increase gun control, and manufacturers are benefiting from the surge in demand. But retailers and makers of firearms aren’t simply relying on returning gun owners looking to make another purchase. They’re also getting a boost from first-time buyers, thanks to an increasing number of people interested in firearms. (snip) In its annual Firearms Retailer Survey Report, the National Shooting Sports Foundation said there is an upward trend in the number of first-time buyers purchasing firearms, while more women are frequenting gun shops and ranges. “There’s...

(GunNews.com) — Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has initiated a rulemaking process “to remove unnecessary legal barriers” under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule that may prevent states from reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is the database that houses information on individuals prohibited by law from possessing firearms. This is one of the 23 executive actions the President announced in January. “Through the public comment process, we will use the data and information provided by states, health providers, patient advocates and others to determine how...

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told reporters on a conference call moments ago that his compromise bill with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on gun background checks “doesn’t change in any way” his “conservative record or views.” The former Club for Growth president acknowledged he was out of his usual legislative area on the issue, but “it became clear to me a bill of some sort was very likely to reach the floor” that would be “badly flawed,” so he reached out to his friend and neighboring state senator Manchin to sit down and talk. “You’re probably used to hearing me talk...

So, are "Background Checks" really "Gun Owner Registrations" When you buy a firearm from a dealer, you submit to a background check, officially known as the The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998, NICS is used by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to immediately determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms or explosives.(1) Like many of you, I was under the impression that NICS checks were not kept as permanent records. Federal law specifically prohibits using NICS...

The federal background check system for gun buyers is porous, ineffective, and hampered by a lack of cooperation from the states. And that’s what the system’s supporters have to say. For critics, it’s much more than that. They warn that even if the system can be perfected — and there’s growing consensus in Washington, D.C., that the time has come to authorize certain basic and largely non-controversial improvements — it will do nothing to reduce gun violence. President Barack Obama called on Congress to implement universal background checks as part of the gun-control proposals he unveiled in the wake of...

During the National Rifle Association’s meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and the White House gun violence task force, the vice president said that the administration did not have the time to prosecute existing gun laws. Jim Baker, the NRA representative present at the meeting, recalled the vice president’s words to The Daily Caller: “And to your point, Mr. Baker, regarding the lack of prosecutions on lying on Form 4473s, we simply don’t have the time or manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.” Submitting false information on...

GRAY, Maine, Nov 27, 2012 (Bangor Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- So many gun dealers called the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, on Black Friday that the system went down twice and was slowed for those who did get through, Maine gun dealers said Monday. Even with the glitches, a record number of guns were sold on Black Friday all across the country, Stephen G. Fischer Jr., director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, said Monday. "We had an awful time getting through all day, and sometimes we couldn't get...

The June 2012 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 846,437 is an increase of 24.5 percent over the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 679,840 in June 2011. For comparison, the unadjusted June 2012 NICS figure of 1,290,210 reflects an 11.4 percent increase from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,157,714 in June 2011. This marks the 25th straight month that NSSF-adjusted NICS figures have increased when compared to the same period the previous year. The adjusted NICS data were derived by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky, Iowa and Michigan...

An analysis of trends in handgun manufacturing for domestic sales since implementation ofthe Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. By Charles J Blankenship Pennsylvania --(Ammoland.com)- Introduction November 1998 was arguably the high Water mark for federal gun control in the US. It was then the FBI implemented the National Instant Criminal Background Cheek System [NlCS], a key provision ofthe Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993. [Brady Bi11]. The NICS is designed to prevent certain prospective purchasers with criminal backgrounds from obtaining firearms. The Brady Bill may have prevented some handgun violence because of the NICS checks but it did not...

The October 2011 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 945,088 is an increase of 10.6 percent over the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 854,563 in October 2010. For comparison, the unadjusted October 2011 NICS figure of 1,331,836 reflects a 2.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,359,894 in October 2010. This marks the seventeenth straight month that NSSF-adjusted NICS figures have increased when compared to the same period the previous year. The adjusted NICS data were derived by NSSF by subtracting out all NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky,...

Despite Economy, Ohio, U.S. Gun Sales Defy Gravity The economy of Ohio is centered to a high degree on the manufacturing of a myriad of consumer products, perhaps to a higher degree than dozens of other states. As a result, one would think the current downturn in the national economy would be intensified in The Buckeye State. Ohioans may not be dining out as much or buying new refrigerators and pickup tracks, but recently released figures from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) indicate they are continuing to purchase firearms at a record pace. During the first seven...

EXCLUSIVE: In the latest chapter of the gunrunning scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, federal officials won't say how two suspects obtained more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun. Under current federal law, people with felony convictions are not permitted to buy weapons, and those with felony arrests are typically flagged while the FBI conducts a thorough background check. However, according to court records reviewed by Fox News, two of the 20 defendants indicted in the Fast and Furious investigation have felony convictions and criminal backgrounds that experts say,...

1- "Guns Save Lives" Censorship Opposed -- in Court The lamestream media told you: The city of Phoenix has censored 50 ads for the educational program of a local gun-safety training association, TrainMeAZ.com. We oppose censorship in all its forms. The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that: Although the "news" media steadfastly censors news about firearms, self-defense cases, new firearm products, the shooting sports and basically anything that confirms that guns are good, save lives, stop crime, and help keep America free -- the media is intolerant of censorship by government, and in this case it's a good thing. On May...

Two important pro-gun bills need your immediate attention. As we reported last week, House File 1467 passed in the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee by a 10 to 7 vote. HB 1467, which is sponsored by state Representative Tony Cornish (R-24B), is now before the House Judiciary Committee and will be voted on during its hearing at 8:15 a.m. this Wednesday, May 4. The Senate companion bill sponsored by state Senator Gretchen Hoffman (R-10), Senate File 1357 Senate File 1357, is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee as early...

As you know, you can’t buy a gun without a dealer punching your particulars into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The good folks at the FBI run the system. If the federal government shuts down, it’s entirely possible that the NICS system will go dark. No NICS, no gun sales. Can you say backlog? We’ve contacted the feds and gun dealers to see whether or not we’re scare mongering. They’ve know NUTH-THINK! Meanwhile, ABC News reports that most federal law enforcement agencies—including the FBI and ATF—have been classified as “essential services”—which would not be suspended during a...

Everyone wants to keep guns away from criminals, but gun control advocates, such as Media Matters, don’t want to acknowledge that there are costs to disarming law-abiding citizens. Lately Media Matters has particularly been incensed that anyone would point out that the vast majority of denials from Brady Act background checks involve so-called “false positives” — law-abiding citizens incorrectly being identified as banned individuals. Media Matters claims that all those stopped by the background checks from buying guns are prohibited individuals, that no mistakes are made by the government. And Media Matters is willing to engage in any amount of...

Title 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) criminalizes gun possession by (among others) anyone “who has been committed to a mental institution.” This includes relatively brief commitments, and from 1992 until 2007 this covered anyone who had ever been so committed, with no opportunity for relief. Title 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) did authorize the Secretary of Treasury to provide discretionary relief from this prohibition, but since 1992 an appropriations bar enacted by Congress prohibited the government from using funds to decide § 925(c) petitions (which would chiefly involve attempts to get relief from the ban on gun possession by felons, but would...

H/T Mike at SipseyStreetIrregulars Terrorists and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms Wednesday, May 5, 2010 10:00 AM Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 342 Add To My Calendar (vCal) Witnesses Panel 1 The Honorable Frank R. Lautenberg U.S. Senate The Honorable Peter T. King U.S. House of Representatives The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor City of New York The Honorable Raymond W. Kelly Police Commissioner City of New York Panel 2 Daniel D. Roberts Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation U.S. Department of Justice Eileen R. Larence Director, Homeland Security and Justice...

For all you steadfast NRA supporters who pooh-poohed us when we told you that veterans were going to get shafted by this act... read this and start making excuses.

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   New York: Governor Introduces New Gun Proposal   Friday, May 29, 2009   Please Continue Checking Your Email and www.NRAILA.org for UpdatesEarlier this week, Governor David Paterson (D) introduced a proposal that would set up a process by which pistol license holders would be “recertified” every five years by having a NICS check performed.  Under the plan, the issuing authority would simply run the check at the time of renewal or, in the case of those with lifetime licenses, every five years.  Still under analysis is another provision that would require...

Imagine if 15 or 20 years ago, someone had said the FBI would have to create a system by which federal firearms licensees could obtain a criminal background check on a customer within hours or days. We might have declared it an impossible task. Yet here we stand, celebrating the 10th anniversary of a system that does just that—but within seconds. Because of NICS, "instant" checks are not only possible, they have become routine. But they are not something we should take for granted. NICS is an exceptional tool and has produced exceptional results. Over the past 10 years, NICS...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)

"...with ATF harrassing the [deleted] out of numerous mom & pop gunshops in SC, ID & elsewhere, this is THE American issue of alltimes. I pray to God ya all hammer relentlessly." -Nuge McCARTHY BILL COULD COME UP AT ANY TIME IN THE U.S. SENATE Now that Congress returns to work this week, your liberties are in jeopardy once again! You will remember that before the Independence Day break, the House of Representatives passed a McCarthy gun control bill (HR 2640) without any hearings, without any committee action... they put it on the Suspension Calendar and simply got a non-recorded...

(CNSNews.com) - The normally solid "gun lobby" has split on a bill intended to improve the system for conducting instant background checks on would-be gun-buyers. The bill would require federal agencies to provide records of all individuals who are prohibited by law from owning guns to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); and it would provide financial incentives for the states to automate and transmit their records to NICS as well. (States would be penalized for noncompliance.) The goal is to provide NICS with updated criminal and mental health records -- to prevent a situation like the Virginia...

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A proposal that would reportedly update and strengthen the National Instant Check System (NICS) may not go far enough to protect the rights of American gun owners while apparently making it easier to prevent mentally ill persons from legally buying guns at retail outlets, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today. One tenet of the contemplated "compromise" legislation, noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, would reportedly allow persons whose names are in the NICS database for minor infractions that should not be disqualifiers to petition the states to...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Background Checks/ NICS NICS Legislative Efforts   The National Rifle Association has always supported including the records of individuals adjudicated mentally defective into the National Instant Background Check System. We believe that the NICS should serve the intent of Congress, which is to prohibit the sale of firearms to criminals and other prohibited persons, such as adjudicated mental defectives. However, we must not forget that the NICS also serves the purpose of clearing firearm purchases by law-abiding Americans. Too often, the system has been abused and has not delivered on the promise...

I apologize for the vanity, but I just needed some answers. A friend of mine at work last week went to a local gun store and tried to purchase a $1500 shotgun. It’s some type of Benelli that he has been wanting for some time. The clerk ran the NICS check, and it came up denied. My friend has no disqualifying record, and there was no reason for the FBI to deny him. I (and I think the clerk also) told him that it is probably just a case of mistaken identity. He sent NICS an E-mail to see what...

Filed at 3:11 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- FBI Director Robert Mueller is forming a study group to review the law that let suspected terrorists buy guns in the United States after they cleared background checks. Mueller unveiled his plan to form the Justice Department working group, which will include the FBI, in a letter sent Wednesday to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. The group will also review the government report issued earlier this month that said more than 40 terror suspects were able to buy firearms in the United States last year because background checks showed they had no felony...

I went to a local sporting goods store last Wednesday to purchase a SIG P229. I did not get and immediate PROCEED from NICS. I can think of two possible reasons - I know there is someone in Texas with my exact name with some violent criminal history, and I have a misdemeanor conviction for illegal carrying 3 1/2 years ago (not a dis-qualifier). Either may have set off the alarms for a deeper check. The last dealer purchase I made was before the Brady Law. This dealer told me that if he hasn't heard from NICS in 7 -...

Associated Press WASHINGTON - The government will destroy records on gun buyers after one day because of a provision Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt inserted into the spending bill that became law last week. The length of time for keeping records will be shortened from 90 days to one day after a gun buyer passes a background check. First proposed two years ago by Attorney General John Ashcroft two years ago, the change is a victory for gun rights advocates who argue that keeping the records is an invasion of privacy. Gun control advocates say that destroying records immediately will handicap...