The new 1 million-plus figure for monthly gun sales has continued through November, marking the fourth straight month with over 1 million background checks since the single sub-million month in July. Most readers will remember that prior to July, when the number dipped below 1 million, the previous streak of 1 million-plus background checks had lasted nearly six years.
The November 2025 National Shooting Sports Foundation-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,408,230is an increase from 1,299,312 in October, but represented a 7% decrease from last November’s total of 1,514,773. For comparison, the unadjusted November 2025 FBI NICS figure of 2,005,667 reflects a 20.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 2,509,368 in November 2024.
Mark Oliva, NSSF managing director of public affairs, said the 1 million-plus number indicates that Americans aren’t cutting back much on their gun buying.
“November’s adjusted NICS background check figures are following the trends we’ve seen all year long,” Oliva said. “While background checks for firearm sales at retail are below last year’s figures, November’s figures show a strong and enduring interest in lawful firearm ownership.”
According to the NSSF, the Top-5 states for Adjusted NICS checks were Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia. For handgun NICS checks, the Top-5 were Florida, Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, while Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia topped long-gun checks.
The fact that Virginia jumped into the Top-5 states for background checks is notable, according to NSSF’s Oliva.
“Particularly interesting is that background checks in Virginia broke into the Top 5, which can be easily attributed to concerns that law-abiding gun owners there have with their ability to purchase the firearm of their choice before an incoming legislature and governor strip that choice away,” he said. “NSSF believes that bans on Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America, are unconstitutional.”
Oliva added that his organization believes the Supreme Court needs to settle the matter of MSRs once and for all, noting: “NSSF also agrees with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas when he wrote in his dissent of the Supreme Court denying cert to challenges to MSR bans, ‘That question is of critical importance to tens of millions of law-abiding AR–15 owners throughout the country. [The Supreme Court has] avoided deciding it for a full decade. And further percolation is of little value when lower courts in the jurisdictions that ban AR–15s appear bent on distorting this Court’s Second Amendment precedents.’”
Although not a direct correlation to firearms sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provide an additional picture of current market conditions. In addition to other purposes, NICS is used to verify transactions for the sale or transfer of new or used firearms.
Notably, more than half the states—28 to be exact—have at least one qualified alternative permit, which, under the Brady Act, allows the permit holder, who has undergone a background check to obtain the permit, to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer without a separate additional background check for that transfer. The number of NICS checks in these states does not include these legal transfers based on qualifying permits, so the real number of gun sales is likely much higher.
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