Gun background checks in Florida surged last month amid new regulations

By Christen Smith

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act on March 9, 2018. The legislation includes a number of gun restrictions and also permits school personnel who are not full-time teachers to be armed. (Photo: Mark Wallheiser/AP)
Background checks for gun sales surged in Florida last month to levels not surpassed since December 2016, federal data shows.
The uptick in applications processed through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in March comes as state legislators stamped a package of sweeping reforms in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
Florida dealers processed just under 138,000 NICS checks last month, according to FBI data, including applications for more than 64,000 handguns and nearly 31,000 long guns — increasing 12 percent and 15 percent, respectively, in a single month.
The biggest month-over-month spike, however, came in the NICS’s “other” category, which includes accessories defined as “firearms” under federal law. Dealers submitted more than 6,700 applications for this category in March, a 46 percent increase in a single month and nearly double the total recorded a year ago.
NICS checks serve as a proxy measure for gun sales, albeit an imperfect one. Applications for concealed carry permits, periodic rechecks for maintaining licenses and a slew

Source: Guns.com