September Gun Sales Were Up Over Both August and Septmber, 2024 Totals

As summer transitions to fall, Americans’ thoughts inevitably turn to the great outdoors and things that go bang. So it shouldn’t surprise you that September’s gun sales were up about 170,000 from the August total. Even better, last month number was up slightly over the September, 2024 number.

As the NSSF’s Mark Oliva tells us . . .

September’s adjusted NICS figure of over 1.1 million background checks for the sale of a firearm is encouraging and reflects a steady interest by law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights. September is also the beginning of many hunting seasons across the nation and the firearm industry typically sees background checks for retail firearm sales increase during these months, as hunters go afield and want to take with them the latest in firearms to harvest clean protein for their tables. It is a matter of pride to those in our industry that Americans from all walks of life trust their safety and their treasured pastimes to the products our industry provides.

Here’s their press release with all of the usual caveats and to-be-fairs . . .

The September 2025 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,179,424 is an increase of 2.0 percent compared to the September 2024 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,156,223. For comparison, the unadjusted September 2025 FBI NICS figure of  1,858,763 reflects a 10.3% percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,072,550 in September 2024.

The third quarter 2025 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 3,249,497 reflects a decrease of 5.7 percent as compared to the third quarter 2024 figure of 3,432,008.

Additional insights on the month-over-month NICS data from GunBroker, NICS Reporting & Analysis (August 2025 data), available in the member portal under Industry Research.

• • Top-5 States for Adjusted NICS Checks:           TX, FL, CA, PA, CO
  • Top-5 States for FBI NICS Handgun Checks:    TX, FL, CA, PA, TN
  • Top-5 States for FBI NICS Long Gun Checks:   TX, CA, PA, FL, TN

Please note: Twenty-eight states currently have at least one qualified alternative permit, which under the Brady Act allows the permit-holder, who has undergone a background check to obtain the permit, to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without a separate additional background check for that transfer. The number of NICS checks in these states does not include these legal transfers based on qualifying permits and NSSF does not adjust for these transfers.

The adjusted NICS data were derived by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.

Though not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provide an additional picture of current market conditions. In addition to other purposes, NICS is used to check transactions for sales or transfers of new or used firearms. 

It should be noted that these statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars. Based on varying state laws, local market conditions and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.