Background checks hit a two-year low in July, but most retailers expected the downturn post-election. (Photo: cctvcorp.com)
Estimated gun sales nosedived 26 percent last month after a busy spring for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Dealers processed just over 1.7 million applications through NICS in July, down more than 450,000 from last year — the biggest on record. It was the system’s slowest month since since April 2015. NICS data serves as the best available proxy for gun sales, though it isn’t a perfect one-for-one comparison.
Retailers point to summer’s historical weakness, coupled with a return to normal sales patterns post-election and the anniversary of high-profile mass shootings, to explain away the numbers.
Guns.com analyzed the top 10 states for handguns and long guns to determine what else has changed over the last year.
Handguns 2017
- Florida: 47,430
- Pennsylvania: 37,329
- California: 37,027
- Texas: 36,913
- Ohio: 20,990
- Virginia 20,688
- Tennessee: 20,279
- Illinois: 18,417
- Missouri: 16,151
- Colorado: 16,063
Handguns 2016
- Florida: 57,902
- Texas: 50,499
- Pennsylvania: 46,843
- California: 43,631
- Ohio: 27,876
- Tennessee: 26,276
- Virginia: 24,671
- Louisiana: 21,637
- Illinois: 21,421
- Missouri: 20,791
Long guns 2017
- Texas: 27,245
- California: 21,721
- Florida: 18,941
- Virginia: 14,381
- Ohio: 14,131
- Pennsylvania: 11,694
- Tennessee: 11,425
- New York: 11,301
- Missouri: 11,098
- Colorado: 11,065
Long guns 2016
- California: 47,594
- Texas: 34,266
- Florida: 28,000
- Ohio: 17,720
- Virginia: 16,731
- Tennessee: 16,118
- Colorado: 15,176
- Missouri: 13,575
- New York: 13,073
- North Carolina: 12,457
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