US Sees Record Gun Sales for 6 Months in a Row

It appears that America’s firearm buying binge isn’t going to dissipate any time soon. What looked like a temporary surge in firearm purchases last summer has lasted well into the fall, with no signs of it relenting. In fact, according to the FBI, gun sales have reached record levels for the 6th month in a row.

The FBI’s instant background check system processed 1,976,759 firearm purchases in the month of October, which is 373,290 more than they saw in October of 2014. And that of course, doesn’t even consider the background checks that involved multiple firearms. Overall, the FBI has made 17,584,346 background checks in 2015, which means that this year is on track to beat 2013’s record of 21,093,273, which itself beat the 2012 record.

It’s well-known that mass shootings and calls for more gun control are driving these trends, but the left continues to assert that there is no threat to our right to bear arms. However, the fears these gun owners have seem to have been justified in recent months, considering that President Obama has thought about using executive orders to tighten gun sales, and Hillary has mentioned her approval of an Australian style gun confiscation. As long as the political class threatens gun ownership in America, our gun buying binge is only going to escalate.