--- description: A NICS report shows that this September saw the highest number of firearm related background checks for that month, indicating record sales. title: Gun Sales Set a Record High For the Fifth Month in a Row image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd41d7ff35301b370/69886783bc6cfcd02b3d9d29/gettyimages-469362368.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Gun Sales Set a Record High For the Fifth Month in a Row by [Michal Addady / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Michal Addady / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2015 7:10 PM CUT  Revolvers sit on display in the Smith & Wesson booth on the exhibition floor of the 144th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., on Saturday, April 11, 2015\. Top Republican contenders for their party's 2016 presidential nomination are lining up to speak at the annual NRA event, except New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who were snubbed by the country's largest and most powerful gun lobby. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Revolvers sit on display in the Smith & Wesson booth on the exhibition floor of the 144th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., on Saturday, April 11, 2015\. Top Republican contenders for their party's 2016 presidential nomination are lining up to speak at the annual NRA event, except New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who were snubbed by the country's largest and most powerful gun lobby. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg/Getty Images by [Michal Addady / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Michal Addady / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2015 7:10 PM CUT The FBI conducted 1,795,102 firearm background checks through the [National Instant Criminal Background Check System](https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/nics%5Ffirearm%5Fchecks%5F-%5Fmonth%5Fyear.pdf "undefined") (NICS) in September, suggesting gun sales were at an all-time high that month. The number of background checks represents a new record, up more than 20% from the previous September high set in 2012, when 1,459,363 background checks were conducted. September is also the fifth month in a row to set a record for background checks. May, June, July, and August all saw record numbers. The number of checks done in a particular month is generally seen as a proxy for how many guns were sold. This year alone over 15 million background checks have already gone through the NICS, which is more than were conducted in 2010 and every year prior (NICS began recording numbers of firearm related background checks in 1998). The report warns that there is not a one-to-one correlation between background checks and firearm sales. There are multiple factors that could skew the numbers. A single background check doesn’t represent the number of firearms that were purchased by an individual. [According to CNN Money](http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/19/news/guns-background-checks/ "undefined"), only 5 states require a background check if you purchase a gun from a private individual at a gun show. As for why sales are so high, [_Fortune_ reported in June](http://fortune.com/2015/06/19/obama-gun-sales/ "undefined") that it could possibly be caused by Obama calling for stricter gun control laws. As Business Insider’s Sam Ro said, “gunmakers don’t benefit from tighter gun control. They benefit when there are talks of tighter gun control but those talks go nowhere.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4067080/gun-sales-record-high/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4067080/gun-sales-record-high/"},"headline":"Gun Sales Set a Record High For the Fifth Month in a Row","datePublished":"2015-10-08T19:10:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:39:06.351Z","description":"The summer of 2015 was a great time to be a firearms dealer","url":"https://time.com/4067080/gun-sales-record-high/","keywords":["Retail","FBI","Weapons","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd41d7ff35301b370/69886783bc6cfcd02b3d9d29/gettyimages-469362368.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michal Addady / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd41d7ff35301b370/69886783bc6cfcd02b3d9d29/gettyimages-469362368.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Inside the National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings & Exhibits","caption":"Inside the National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings & Exhibits","creditText":"Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4067080/gun-sales-record-high/","name":"Gun Sales Set a Record High For the Fifth Month in a Row"}}]}] ```