The April 2026 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) numbers are in. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) adjusted background check numbers show firearm sales are slightly higher than in April 2025. Firearm sales are holding steady. Contrary to firearm sales as measured by the adjusted numbers, the number of background checks is almost 12% lower than in April, 2025.
From NSSF: The April 2026 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,193,428 is an increase of 1.6 percent compared to the April 2025 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,174,294. For comparison, the unadjusted April 2026 FBI NICS figure of 1,933,972 reflects an 11.9 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,194,006 in April 2025.
April has been a busy month. The conflict with Iran continued through the end of the month. National Firearms Act (NFA) applications and NICS checks are up 130% over April of 2025. The massive increase in applications for NFA firearms is a measure of how much the insane $200 excise taxes were infringing on the rights of Americans to own silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and any other weapons under the NFA. The removal of the tax infringements has unleashed a significant demand for these types of arms. From the NSSF:
The April 2026 NFA figure of 190,086 is an increase of 130.3 percent compared to the April 2025 figure of 82,519.
To be sure, these are NFA application background checks. Not all NFA application background checks result in an authorization to purchase an NFA-regulated arm. Some are duplicates; some are rejected, some are told a mistake was made, and they need to reapply. It is not clear the precise number which are approved. The 103k increase in NFA checks continues a massive increase in NFA applications in 2026. You can see in the NSSF graphic below that April 2026 is fairly close to a “new normal” for firearm sales, as measured by the adjusted background checks. Average the “Trump slump” years with the “Biden Jump” years, and you see a fairly steady amount in April.
An intense conflict in and around Iran, a response to an effective 47-year war with the United States, has dampened down as of this writing in early May. This correspondent predicted that stability would return to world markets after April, and that firearm sales would continue to be up slightly in April, then decrease in May and June. The prediction still looks good for an uncertain future.
The Trump administration’s more aggressive stance on supporting the Second Amendment with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is not likely to increase sales. A rollback of illicit laws and infringement bodes well. Such a rollback assures prospective purchasers that the Constitutional Republic is being restored, in spite of the deranged rhetoric on the Left. Firearm sales thrive on domestic and foreign instability.
In the long term, a new “golden age” could boost firearm sales as wealth and recreational opportunities grow.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
I remember buying my first AR. I’m not really an AR guy, but at the time there was a question about “in common use”, so I used my consumer’s “vote” and purchased an Anderson for the purpose of “in common use.” Naturally, my first time with it on the range I immediately became an AR guy!! The rest of the story is that that Anderson was only my first AR. I am happy to encourage anyone else reading to get yourselves another one today, especially while we are in between political tides and with an optimal economic availability…. On balance… Read more »
Glad to have participated twice in April, as I bought two firearms 8 days apart.
It would be interesting to know the number of new firearms, less suppressors, that were sold. Somewhere between 10 and 15 million per year I would guess. As of a couple years ago, the number of U.S. citizens aged 18 or more was 238 million. Discounting those who don’t own firearms for reasons of cost, politics or practicality, let’s say 100 million households own firearms though the number is probably less. And if there were only 10 million new firearms sold in the past year, that’s a new one for 1 in 10 households. Of course most households probably have… Read more »