There Have Been More Than 73 Million Firearm Background Checks Under President Obama

It’s not news that there’s been a huge spike in gun sales under President Obama – Americans have been buying up guns since the earliest days of his term – but it does look as though the trend is slowing a bit towards the end of his time in office:

CNS News – There have been 73,441,399 background checks for gun purchases since President Obama took office, according to data released by the FBI.

In 2009, the FBI conducted 14,033,824 background checks. If we subtract the month of January (Obama did not assume office until the end of the month) we get 12,819,939.

The FBI conducted 14,409,616 background checks in 2010, 16,454,951 in 2011, and 19,592,303 in 2012.

Add to that the first five months of 2013 (2,495,440, 2,309,393, 2,209,407, 1,714,433 and 1,435,917 respectively) and the total number of background checks under President Obama comes to 73,441,399.

What’s interesting is that while most states have seen a decline in checks, New Jersey (where Governor Chris Christie is considering new gun control regulations) there’s been a major spike:

Since December 2012, when the gun sale surge hit its peak, background checks for gun purchases have slowly declined each month.

With the exception of California, New Jersey and Utah, background checks for gun purchases decreased in every state from April to May.

New Jersey – a state that awaits Governor Christie’s decision on a number of new gun bills – saw its largest number of background checks in a single month since the FBI began tracking data in 1998.

This seems to be the cycle of the gun debate. Anti-gun politicians threaten to ban guns, or make them harder to purchase/own/use, and Americans respond with gun-buying frenzies.

Meanwhile, gun control policies never seem to accomplish the goals of lowering violence and crime their proponents claim they will accomplish.