One of the most amazing consumer streaks has ended two months short of its six-year anniversary, and confidence in President Donald Trump’s protection of the Second Amendment is getting the credit.
Beginning in August 2019, Americans have lined up to purchase over 1 million guns a month for multiple reasons, including liberal threats to the Second Amendment, political violence, and COVID-19.
But as of July, that streak charted monthly by the firearms industry trade group National Shooting Sports Foundation ended. Last month was the first in years in which FBI background checks on gun sales fell below 1 million, falling short by 21,260.
NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva said, “July’s figures of 978,731 background checks for the sale of a firearm at retail brings an end to the streak of over 1 million background checks each month that ran for nearly six years. Summer months routinely show lower background check figures than other times of the year, and we’ve watched as the background check figures came down from astronomical highs several years ago.”
The highest July for gun sales came during the streak. In July 2020, the adjusted number was 1,848,307, said NSSF. At that time, COVID-19 had hit hard, and cities were facing violent riots after the death of George Floyd.
Sales remained high, especially in political election years.
Gun control groups are clutching their pearls again. This time they’re aghast over the notion that President Donald Trump’s administration is defending Second Amendment rights as the Constitutionally-protected rights they actually are. It’s more telling of the gun control cabal’s… pic.twitter.com/zyNUmnbUqr
— NSSF—The Firearm Industry Trade Association (@NSSF) July 27, 2025
But with courts recently supporting the Second Amendment and Trump’s efforts to squash former President Joe Biden’s anti-gun rules, buyers apparently feel safe from federal intervention and therefore feel less compelled to buy.
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“We see cycles where background checks tick up when there are concerns that policies will be enacted to ban certain guns. That’s been evident in election years. However, that didn’t appear as prominently during the last presidential election, which could have signaled a confidence that gun buyers believed an incoming Trump administration would protect gun rights, which has been the case,” Oliva told Washington Secrets on Monday.
“The background check figures suggest gun buyers trust that their right to purchase the firearm they want won’t be threatened,” he added.