The August 2015 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,031,959 is the second-highest August on record for the 17-year-old system, with an increase of 4.3% compared to the August 2014 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 989,337. For comparison, the unadjusted August 2015 NICS figure of 1,735,911 reflects a 12.8% increase from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,538,347 in August 2014. NSSF adjusts the raw data to better reflect the measure of actual completed gun sales.

The FBI doesn’t keep a tally of total gun sales, but instead monitors the number of background checks made by federal firearms licensees through the NICS across much of the US. In June, July and August, background checks broke monthly records going back nearly 20 years, according to the latest figures.