Report by Dean Weingarten
November of 2022 had the second-highest number of National Instant background Check System checks for November. Only November of 2020 had a higher number. The number of gun sales for November was the fourth highest on record, with about 1.49 million gun sales. Last year, 2021, edged out this year with 1.51 million sales, while 2020 had 1.92 million sales and 2016 had 1.62 million sales, as estimated using the FBI figures for gun sales from the NICS system. NOTE: In the chart, lines are for 2021 while bars are for 2022.

In NICS, there are categories for long guns, handguns, other guns, and multiple gun sales. The estimate of sales for the month is arrived at by adding the long gun, handgun, and other sales with 2.5 x the multiple sales figures. The estimate is consistent, and does not include NICS checks for permits or permit re-checks, which have come to dominate NICS in recent years. Of about 2.75 million checks total for November of 2022, Illinois permit checks and Kentucky permit rechecks to total .717 million, over 25% of the total checks done! The permit checks and rechecks are not charged for by the federal government. The permit and permit rechecks are what are fueling the increases in overall NICS checks. Thus, the raw NICS numbers are not a reliable indicator of firearm sales.

The November sales figures bring the NICS gun sales to about 15.51 million so far in 2022. December is usually a good month for gun sales. This correspondent predicts 1.8 million firearms will be sold through the NICS system in December. If that happens, the total for 2022 will be 17.3 million firearms.

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