President Obama, champion gun salesman:
FBI data suggests gun sales in the U.S. shot up in August after a barrage of high-profile shootings led to renewed calls for stronger firearm laws.
The FBI posted 1.7 million background checks required of gun buyers at federally-licensed dealers — the highest number seen in any August since the checks began in 1998, according to a USA TODAY report published Saturday.
It turns out it was a very busy summer for gun lovers.
The soaring tally comes on the heels of monthly highs for June (1.5 million) and July (1.6 million), a stretch that spanned a series of deadly gun attacks from Charleston to Roanoke.
Note: The number of background checks run does not necessarily correspond to the number of guns sold. That could well be higher:
The FBI does not record actual gun sales — as multiple firearms can be included in a transaction by a single buyer — but the National Instant Criminal Background Check System’s data suggests the market is booming.
This surge comes hot on the heels of reports that the market had finally calmed down. Turns out that if you talk casually about Australian-style confiscation in a country that is more consistently in favor of the right to keep and bear arms than it has been for half a century, people will react.