Gun sales over 1 million for 34 straight months

In a record-breaking trend that appears to have no end in sight, sales of civilian guns have topped 1 million for 34 straight months.

The FBI this week said that background checks for May totaled 2,349,383, the third-highest ever for a May. Of those, industry officials said that about 1,174,791 were directly tied to the sale of a firearm.

“Background checks for firearm sales remain strong. May marks 34 months that background checks for the sale of a firearm exceeded 1 million,” said Mark Oliva, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun-makers.

“Americans continue to buy firearms for personal safety. These gun owners are law-abiding Americans who use their firearms for lawful purposes daily,” he added.

If past buying trends hold, the “mass shootings” over the past week in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, will spark more sales to those looking for self-defense.