The National Shooting Sports Foundation has released its September 2026 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of1,152,077, which is a decrease of 2.3percent compared to the September 2025 NSSF-adjusted NICS figureof1,179,424.
For comparison, the unadjusted September 2026 FBI NICS figure of 1,843,700 reflects a 0.8 percent decrease from the unadjusted FBI NICS figure of 1,858,763 in September 2025.
The thirdquarter 2026 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 3,329,270 reflects an increase of 2.5 percent as compared to the third quarter 2025 figure of 3,249,497.
- Top-5 States for Adjusted NICS Checks: TX, FL, CA, PA, VA
- Top-5 States for FBI NICS Handgun Checks: TX, FL, PA, CA, TN
- Top-5 States for FBI NICS Long Gun Checks: TX, PA, CA, FL, TN
However, one significant fact revealed by NSSF is that the September 2026 NFA figure of 149,614 is an increase of 129.2 percent compared to the September 2025 figure of 65,273.
“Law-abiding gun owners continue to make substantial investments in firearm suppressors, at a rate of over 129 percent from a year ago,” noted Mark Oliva, NSSF managing director for Public Affairs. “This is the direct result of NSSF working with Congress and the Trump administration to remove burdensome tax stamp fees previously required to obtain a suppressor at retail.
“Americans are showing that when barriers are removed to lawful firearm and firearm accessory ownership,” Oliva continued, “they will make that investment, in this case, to preserve their hearing. NSSF continues to press Congress to pass the Hearing Protection Act (HPA), which would remove suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA) and allow recreational marksmen and hunters to purchase them through the same background check process as purchasing a firearm. Additionally, background checks for firearm sales at retail continue to remain strong and steady, with at least over 1.1 million firearms lawfully transferred. Second Amendment rights matter to Americans and they prove that month after month.”
Twenty-eight states currently 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 and NSSF does not adjust for these transfers.
The adjusted NICS data were derived by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks and permit rechecks used by states for CCW permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases. NSSF started subtracting permit rechecks in February 2016.
Though 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 check transactions for sales or transfers of new or used firearms.
It should be noted that these statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars. Based on varying state laws, local market conditions and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.
