The FBI reports the number of background checks performed through NICS in June totaled 2,131,485, compared to 1,529,057 for the same month in 2015, an increase of nearly 40 percent.
Despite a general drop-off in new gun purchases earlier this year and an overall decline in 2015 from an unprecedented seven-year boom, firearms transactions experienced a record spike the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally one of the biggest days in retail sales in the U.S.