The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported that the December 2023 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) number increased by 1.6 percent, its third consecutive positive month. For the year, adjusted checks were down 3.5 percent.
Checks amounted to 1,775,834 in December compared to the December 2022 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,747,506. The December increase followed gains of 5.0 percent in November and 8.2 percent in October.
For comparison, the unadjusted December 2023 FBI NICS figure of 2,730,855 reflects a 10.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 3,036,531 in December 2022. December 2023 marks the 53rd month in a row that exceeded 1 million adjusted background checks in a single month.
The adjusted NICS data comes from subtracting NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks and checks on active CCW permit databases. The NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.
The fourth quarter 2023 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 4,742,029 reflects an increase of 4.6 percent compared to the 4,532,341 figure for fourth quarter 2022.
The annual 2023 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 15,848,055 reflects a decrease of 3.5 percent compared to the 16,425,484 figure for annual 2022. Adjusted checks were down 11 percent in 2022. NSSF noted that 2023 was the 4th highest year on record, exceeded by 2020 through 2022.
The statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS system and do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars.
