Gun Background Checks Soar 36% in Q1

U.S. background checks for citizens wishing to purchase a firearm have soared to nearly 7.7 million in the first three months of 2016, a year-over-year increase of 36% compared with the first quarter of 2015. The FBI ran more than 23 million background checks in all of 2015, a record total.

As of 2009, the number of guns in the United States has exceeded the country’s population, and the gap has been growing ever since. And that’s just the legal number.

In October 2015, the Washington Post cited a report from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco (ATF) that revealed firearms manufacturing had nearly doubled in the United States between 2009 and 2013, from 5.6 million to 10.9 million rifles, shotguns, handguns and other firearms.

Handgun makers Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SWHC) and Sturm, Ruger & Co. (NYSE: RGR) certainly could testify to the increase. Shares of Sturm Ruger rose from about $6.50 to nearly $82 between January 2009 and January 2014. Smith & Wesson’s shares rose from less than $3 to about $15 in the same period. Handguns represent the largest portion of the current spike in firearms sales.
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Sales rose late last year, following the mass killings in Paris and San Bernardino, and have been bolstered by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s promise to push for stricter gun control laws if she is elected. An industry analyst told CNN Money, “As the general election draws closer, we believe fear [about second amendment rights] will be maintained.”

The 7.7 million background checks run so far this year are only a rough indicator of the number of new guns that will be sold. A single background check can cover multiple firearms.