Five Gun-Purchase Records Set in March 2016

“Hillary Clinton is making gun control a central theme of her campaign” for president of the United States, the Wall Street Journal reports. But whether this is a strategy that will win the White House is in dispute, or certainly ought to be. Based upon trends in firearm background checks conducted by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), opposition to gun control may be stronger than ever.

The number of checks conducted in March 2016 was the highest for any March since NICS’ inception. The 2,523,265 checks topped the previous record for the month, 2,488,842, set in 2013.

March 2016 also marked the tenth consecutive month in which the number of checks was the highest for the month in question. Stated another way, there were more checks in May 2015 than in any previous May, more in June 2015 than for any previous June, and so on for every month since.

Also, the number of checks for the 12-month period ending the 31st of March was the highest for any 12-month period on record. The number for that 12-month period, 25,179,245, was over a half million higher than the number for the previous 12-month high, set at the end of February.

Finally, March was also the 5th highest month for checks since NICS’ inception, behind December 2015, December 2012, February 2016 and January 2016. Thus, four of the highest five NICS months on record have transpired as Clinton has gone from tiresome to shrill in her advocacy of gun control.

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