Gun background checks dip in June, year still on pace to shatter records

Gun background checks dipped in June of this year, falling well below both last month’s checks and those of June 2020 while still putting 2021 on pace to shatter last year’s record number of filings.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation monthly NICS firearm check figures showed about 3.05 million checks in June, well below the more than 3.2 million checks run in May and significantly below the whopping 3.9 million checks run last June. 

The June 2020 number—an FBI record for six months until slightly more checks were run in December of last year—came amid widespread protesting and at times deadly and destructive riots amid the wave of Black Lives Matter-led activism that swept the country last year. 

Last month’s numbers occurred amid a more sanguine start to summer, with consumers likely feeling a less critical drive to acquire self-protection. Yet overall numbers in 2021 are still on pace to beat last year’s total amount of background checks run. 

Halfway through the year the FBI has already run more than 22 million checks; that’s well over 50% of the roughly 39.7 million checks run in all of 2020.