How 2016 became the biggest year for background checks, gun sales

By Christen Smith

With a GOP-controlled Congress and a gun-friendly president in the White House poised to push national pro-gun legislation, Guns.com took a deep dive into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s background check system, the country’s mechanism for preventing criminals from directly purchasing guns from firearms retailers. In our snapshot of 2016 — starting at daily totals and moving into year-over-year trends — we pick out some of the social, economic and political events that likely shaped the federal background check system’s big year.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 27.4 million checks in 2016 — the most in the system’s 18-year history.
The checks serve as an industry proxy for gun sales, though analysts caution the number is an imperfect measurement because not every background check results in a gun sold. Sales can be canceled, a single background check can be run for the purchase of multiple guns and concealed carry permit background checks don’t typically indicate a weapon was sold.
NICS processed 27.4 million checks in 2016, including an estimated 15.8 million sales.
Guns.com adjusts for these caveats by removing permit checks from monthly and annual tallies. The adjusted NICS figure, similar to what the National Shooting Sports Foundation releases every

Source: Guns.com