By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Raw data from the FBI for 2019 shows background checks initiated with the National Instant Check System (NICS) set a new record, while the FBI notes that these checks do not translate directly to the number of firearms sold last year in the United States.
According to the FBI year-end report on NICS checks, the past year saw a whopping 28,369,750 checks initiated. However, the number is a good indicator of firearms-related activity, and it suggests to Democrats their efforts to discourage gun ownership aren’t working. Indeed, quite the opposite appears to be happening.
Quoted by the Washington Times, Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, put it bluntly: “Democrats have been the best gun salesmen of the year.”
Whether promising to ban whole classes of firearms, suggesting the National Guard might be called up to enforce gun control laws that county sheriffs refuse to enforce, or threatening to enact other extreme measures, Democrats have only themselves to blame for increased gun sales, he suggested.
Democrats only need to look at their own rhetoric to understand why they alienate firearms owners. From Beto O’Rourke’s proposed “mandatory buyback” to his declaration, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47” – with not a single other Democrat offering a rebuke—the lineup of presidential hopefuls have offered some version of gun control month-after-month since last spring.
Then came Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s attempt to push his gun control agenda, which Republicans rejected last summer. But anti-gun would-be president Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund dumped $2.5 million into the Virginia General Assembly election last fall and Democrats won the majority, thanks largely to voter apathy which saw only about a 40 percent turnout. Gun owner activism since then has resulted in the creation of 87 “Second Amendment Sanctuary” counties in Virginia, so it’s doubtful that state’s gun owners will allow such an election mistake happen again.
“For gun owners, the election cycle has already started,” Gottlieb told the Washington Times. “Their rights have already been under attack, and you are seeing record turnouts at meetings around the country.”
In December, according to NICS raw data, 2,936,894 checks were initiated and that’s the second highest number for the month dating back to 1998. It was eclipsed only by the 2015 high mark of 3,314,594 initiated checks.
Concealed carry is expanding to more than 18.6 million active carry licenses, according to the most recent estimate by the Crime Prevention Research Center. Look at Arizona, which is a “constitutional carry” state where licenses aren’t even required. The state added some 900 licenses in December, bringing the total number of active carry licenses to 350,258. Those licenses are recognized in other states, where Arizonans might travel.
In Washington, as reported earlier, there are now more than 646,000 active CPLs.
