The FBI this year has barred a record number of cases of illegal immigrants from buying guns, according to a new report of background checks.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System listed 7,836,600 “illegal/unlawful alien” as of 2018.
That number has been increasing in recent years.
Of those, some 3,300 were denied in fiscal year 2017.
Illegal immigrants rank at the top of those on the FBI’s “prohibited category.”
The full list of prohibited categories and NICS catches:
Illegal/unauthorized alien: 7,836,600.
Adjudicated mental health: 5,637,317.
Convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year or a misdemeanor punishable by more than two years: 3,833,213.
State prohibitor: 1,267,285.
Misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction: 174,388.
Under indictment: 128,214.
Protection/restraining order for domestic violence: 74,014.
Renounced U.S. citizenship: 46,346.
Unlawful user/addicted to controlled substance: 46,320.
Dishonorable discharge: 16,485.
Fugitive from justice: 1,919.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said the numbers were of attempted purchases. The report is of "active records" of those barred. Washington Secrets regrets the error.
