The FBI ran more than 3.7 million background checks for people attempting to purchase guns in March, the most in a single month, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread in the United States.
The federal agency conducted 3,740,688 checks on people in the U.S. who tried to purchase a gun, compared with 2,802,467 a month earlier — a 33% increase month to month. In March 2019, 2,644,851 background checks were done. Gun purchasers undergo a criminal history check against the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System to avoid selling a weapon to someone who legally is barred from attaining one.
Illinois residents made up approximately 1 in 5 of the checks, with more than 645,000 of the 3.7 million. Texas followed with the second-highest at more than 274,000, and Kentucky was third with 235,000. States with more than 100,000 checks registered included California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah, according to the FBI website.
Background checks do not represent the number of guns sold. Gun sellers run electronic or telephone background checks at the time of sale and will get an immediate answer on whether to sell the gun. NICS was implemented in 1998, and more than 300 million checks, including 1.5 million denials, have been done in that time. Thirty states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia rely on the federal system to check purchasers’ identities. Seven other states partially rely on it, and 13 states use their own systems.
