June was a hot month for U.S. gun sales

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Even as the left began clearing its throat to raise the topic of gun control for (yet another) national conversation, guns were flying off the shelves during the month of June.

Data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) revealed an 11 percent increase in the number of June pre-purchase background checks, compared with the same statistic for June of 2014.

While the NICS background check data doesn’t cover every type of firearm transaction, it serves as a barometer of the level of interest Americans have in purchasing new firearms. Background checks aren’t universally required — yet — for person-to-person gun sales, nor for sales made at gun shows. But the number of background checks is at least suggestive of the public’s appetite to purchase firearms.

The FBI ran 1.53 million background checks last month, making June of 2015 the most active since the NICS database began tracking the data in 1999. By comparison, there were 1.38 million background checks in June of 2014; in June of 1999, there were approximately 569,500.

The NICS data has shown an almost unswerving increase in the number of firearms background checks since 1999 — with only momentary declines in some years, followed by dramatic rebounds. Background checks exploded from 2011 to 2012, increasing from 16.45 million (2011) to 19.6 million (2012).

The FBI conducted 20.97 million background checks in 2014.

Personal Liberty

Ben Bullard

Reconciling the concept of individual sovereignty with conscientious participation in the modern American political process is a continuing preoccupation for staff writer Ben Bullard. A former community newspaper writer, Bullard has closely observed the manner in which well-meaning small-town politicians and policy makers often accept, unthinkingly, their increasingly marginal role in shaping the quality of their own lives, as well as those of the people whom they serve. He argues that American public policy is plagued by inscrutable and corrupt motives on a national scale, a fundamental problem which individuals, families and communities must strive to solve. This, he argues, can be achieved only as Americans rediscover the principal role each citizen plays in enriching the welfare of our Republic.