Some of us have voted with our wallets and pocketbooks
NICS Background Checks
required for Form 4473 gun
transactions since Nov 1998
YEAR 2011
NOV 1,534,414
DEC 1,862,327
2012
JAN 1,377,301
FEB 1,749,903
MAR 1,727,881
APR 1,427,343
MAY 1,316,226
JUN 1,302,660
JUL 1,300,704
AUG 1,526,206
SEP 1,459,363
OCT 1,614,032
NOV 2,006,919
DEC 2,783,765
2012 TOTAL 14,801,619
Grand Total since Nov 1998: 160,474,702 NICS checks as of 31 Dec 2012.
The DOJ NIJ NSPOF gun survey published in 1997 estimated 200 million guns in private ownership.
Recent estimates are 350 million private guns after a decade of media-political drumbeat of gun control guncontrol needaban needaban.
And of course gun control advocates claim the number of gun owners is declining.
AHEM. The Form 4473 has five blank lines for make, model, serial number, type and caliber. The NICS asks name of person and most restricted type of firearm being purchased (long guns have an 18 year age limit, handguns and "other" (PGO shotgun, AR bare receiver, etc.) have a 21 year age limit.) An NICS check on a person may represent more than one gun purchased. When I bought my wife a revolver and a shotgun as gifts, that was one NICS check. When my son bought a Yugo M70AB2 for himself, he bought a matching gun for me for my birthday, again two guns, one NICS check.