Top 5 States for Long Gun Sales

According to FBI data on NICS firearm checks by year and by state and type of gun, long gun sales surged in New York in May. Overall, May saw a 6 percent increase in gun sales from last year. That’s nationwide, not just in New York.

The data comes from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is not a one-to-one measure of gun checks to gun sales but is the industry’s best measure. Total estimated gun sales racked up to 926,516. That figure represents 512,406 handguns, 315,716 long guns, 27,969 other types of firearms, and 15,726 checks for transactions covering multiple firearms.

May 2017 led New York to a 5-month record high on long gun sales. New York gun dealers processed 12,857 applications for what would most likely turn into long gun purchases. (We say likely because some of those sales would be denied. this is just a number of checks run.) Last year’s numbers was 19 percent lower.

New York held the number five spot on total long gun purchases in the nation. The top 4 states holding that record currently are Florida, Texas, California and Ohio.