Name: NICS firearm background checks by month and state
Creator: GunReleases
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

By Cole Harlan, EditorUpdated Oct 30, 2026How we verifyEditorial standardsCorrections

September 2026 at a glance

FBI national total: 2,000,629 NICS firearm checks, +3.6% from September 2025 (1,931,173) and −5.2% from August 2026 (2,111,146).
Sum of FBI state and territory rows: 1,843,700, −0.8% from September 2025 (1,858,763). This is the figure NSSF calls the “unadjusted FBI NICS figure”.
NSSF adjusted (trade association estimate, not official): 1,152,077, which NSSF says is down 2.3% from 1,179,424 in September 2025.
2026 so far: 19,430,694 FBI national checks from January through September, +0.2% from the same months of 2025 (19,389,065).

Checks aren't sales

Every number on this page counts background checks, not guns. The FBI prints this note on each table:

“These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold. Based on varying state laws and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.”

And on the state and type tables:

“Some states may reflect lower than expected numbers for handgun checks based on varying state laws pertaining to handgun permits. Since the permit check is done in place of the NICS check in most of the affected states, the low handgun statistics are often balanced out by a higher number of handgun permit checks.”

A single check can cover several guns, some checks are for concealed carry permits rather than purchases, and in many states a valid permit lets a buyer skip the NICS check entirely. That's why some states look very high or very low. In 2026 so far, permit and permit recheck checks made up 97% of Hawaii's checks, 86% of Illinois's checks and 84% of Utah's (see the type table).

NSSF, the firearm industry trade association, publishes an adjusted figure meant to sit closer to retail sales. In its words, the adjusted 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.” NSSF's figure is not an official government statistic, and NSSF also notes it is “not a direct correlation to firearms sales”.

Monthly trend since 2020

Line chart of monthly FBI NICS firearm checks from January 2020 to September 2026. The national total peaked at 4,691,738 in March 2021 and was 2,000,629 in September 2026. The sum of state rows runs a little below the national total. — Source: FBI NICS Month/Year and Month/Year by State tables. Download the monthly national data (CSV)

Since January 2020 the busiest month was March 2021, with 4,691,738 checks. The FBI's national Month/Year total is larger than the sum of its state and territory rows (156,929 more in September 2026). The FBI files don't explain the gap, so we show both and adjust neither.

National totals by year, 1999 to 2026

NICS firearm checks by year. FBI national total from the Month/Year table; state sum from the Month/Year by State table. 1999 is the first full year.
Year	FBI national total	Sum of state and territory rows
2026 (Jan to Sep)	19,430,694	17,737,493
2025	26,123,215	25,164,257
2024	28,097,205	26,926,624
2023	29,854,176	28,732,139
2022	31,596,646	30,861,706
2021	38,876,673	38,573,127
2020	39,695,315	39,326,079
2019	28,369,750	28,007,320
2018	26,181,936	25,769,441
2017	25,235,215	24,955,919
2016	27,538,673	27,425,512
2015	23,141,970	23,026,288
2014	20,968,547	20,860,241
2013	21,093,273	20,966,704
2012	19,592,303	19,463,832
2011	16,454,951	16,336,732
2010	14,409,616	14,320,489
2009	14,033,824	13,984,953
2008	12,709,023	12,692,985
2007	11,177,335	11,162,272
2006	10,036,933	9,993,057
2005	8,952,945	8,867,055
2004	8,687,671	8,579,891
2003	8,481,588	8,402,244
2002	8,454,322	8,367,069
2001	8,910,191	8,820,045
2000	8,543,037	8,427,096
1999	9,138,123	9,043,747

Every state and territory, September 2026

Month over month and year over year changes are GunReleases calculations from the FBI's figures. Download all months by state (CSV).

NICS firearm checks by state and territory, September 2026, from the FBI Month/Year by State table. Select a column heading to sort.

Alabama	37,621	37,421	+0.5%	41,876	−10.2%
Alaska	6,608	6,653	−0.7%	6,556	+0.8%
Arizona	35,508	36,849	−3.6%	39,930	−11.1%
Arkansas	19,866	19,095	+4.0%	20,097	−1.1%
California	113,008	116,373	−2.9%	118,255	−4.4%
Colorado	21,742	24,811	−12.4%	29,879	−27.2%
Connecticut	23,655	20,540	+15.2%	15,635	+51.3%
Delaware	2,703	2,862	−5.6%	3,440	−21.4%
District of Columbia	1,075	1,068	+0.7%	1,521	−29.3%
Florida	101,967	90,557	+12.6%	109,479	−6.9%
Georgia	44,872	44,477	+0.9%	48,474	−7.4%
Guam	324	281	+15.3%	275	+17.8%
Hawaii	1,682	1,857	−9.4%	1,522	+10.5%
Idaho	21,011	20,724	+1.4%	17,954	+17.0%
Illinois	231,920	240,871	−3.7%	181,505	+27.8%
Indiana	58,145	60,241	−3.5%	57,202	+1.6%
Iowa	14,263	13,227	+7.8%	14,172	+0.6%
Kansas	14,117	14,377	−1.8%	13,828	+2.1%
Kentucky	22,937	104,210	−78.0%	25,322	−9.4%
Louisiana	26,229	21,068	+24.5%	25,147	+4.3%
Maine	8,006	6,831	+17.2%	9,223	−13.2%
Mariana Islands	28	30	−6.7%	33	−15.2%
Maryland	30,294	28,608	+5.9%	30,341	−0.2%
Massachusetts	21,663	23,511	−7.9%	21,273	+1.8%
Michigan	47,803	47,500	+0.6%	59,591	−19.8%
Minnesota	64,529	60,285	+7.0%	69,026	−6.5%
Mississippi	18,907	22,327	−15.3%	18,893	+0.1%
Missouri	37,199	36,428	+2.1%	37,861	−1.7%
Montana	11,432	10,912	+4.8%	11,717	−2.4%
Nebraska	5,931	5,942	−0.2%	6,344	−6.5%
Nevada	11,260	11,628	−3.2%	12,168	−7.5%
New Hampshire	12,474	11,832	+5.4%	11,522	+8.3%
New Jersey	9,610	9,670	−0.6%	11,221	−14.4%
New Mexico	10,276	9,889	+3.9%	9,561	+7.5%
New York	31,836	27,929	+14.0%	37,881	−16.0%
North Carolina	53,520	54,188	−1.2%	55,003	−2.7%
North Dakota	5,478	5,009	+9.4%	5,401	+1.4%
Ohio	45,619	46,922	−2.8%	49,386	−7.6%
Oklahoma	30,652	31,452	−2.5%	28,036	+9.3%
Oregon	29,406	27,684	+6.2%	31,395	−6.3%
Pennsylvania	84,811	88,754	−4.4%	97,031	−12.6%
Puerto Rico	10,514	10,762	−2.3%	8,457	+24.3%
Rhode Island	1,680	1,683	−0.2%	2,426	−30.8%
South Carolina	32,192	35,192	−8.5%	28,219	+14.1%
South Dakota	6,646	5,580	+19.1%	6,252	+6.3%
Tennessee	56,077	56,781	−1.2%	57,506	−2.5%
Texas	133,852	137,709	−2.8%	143,083	−6.5%
Utah	72,484	72,884	−0.5%	72,860	−0.5%
Vermont	3,089	2,757	+12.0%	3,108	−0.6%
Virgin Islands	617	536	+15.1%	279	+121.1%
Virginia	42,527	43,517	−2.3%	42,020	+1.2%
Washington	38,401	32,825	+17.0%	35,959	+6.8%
West Virginia	13,990	12,848	+8.9%	15,131	−7.5%
Wisconsin	56,038	54,100	+3.6%	52,661	+6.4%
Wyoming	5,606	5,312	+5.5%	5,826	−3.8%

Checks by state and year

Yearly totals for every state and territory, 2020 to 2026

NICS firearm checks by state and year, from the FBI Month/Year by State table. 2026 covers January through September. Select a column heading to sort.

Alabama	343,066	535,889	596,388	609,252	739,113	946,271	1,085,475
Alaska	54,300	76,590	75,688	76,815	84,802	91,207	98,952
Arizona	342,344	485,112	524,482	509,404	533,699	563,763	665,458
Arkansas	165,321	231,203	239,191	236,914	239,350	288,706	324,741
California	1,048,868	1,455,424	1,475,944	1,498,353	1,431,993	1,476,073	1,601,054
Colorado	352,735	468,031	477,002	507,651	528,335	628,811	680,507
Connecticut	194,136	192,358	212,804	211,999	230,702	277,250	219,227
Delaware	30,013	51,705	53,370	50,080	58,323	69,068	77,057
District of Columbia	11,087	18,182	16,602	15,687	16,102	12,910	11,485
Florida	864,932	1,258,156	1,275,437	1,399,267	1,474,730	1,711,685	1,912,204
Georgia	432,051	580,394	562,846	562,288	601,407	806,912	904,035
Guam	2,693	3,652	3,011	3,022	3,673	4,518	3,572
Hawaii	17,208	15,844	15,402	23,750	18,842	17,707	20,102
Idaho	187,646	228,863	242,085	233,220	235,465	273,762	281,284
Illinois	2,088,272	2,546,739	2,768,955	3,961,236	4,476,055	8,474,505	7,455,065
Indiana	514,926	719,422	751,540	768,131	1,105,040	1,815,531	1,935,587
Iowa	143,648	185,566	183,241	185,840	218,703	266,678	270,614
Kansas	131,078	179,606	178,539	186,710	191,895	230,168	249,589
Kentucky	827,822	2,522,704	3,741,704	3,685,843	4,016,510	3,848,061	3,330,462
Louisiana	187,429	266,525	277,359	301,656	344,808	401,345	430,537
Maine	64,011	97,173	99,749	112,304	114,090	129,193	137,149
Mariana Islands	184	274	239	275	372	364	222
Maryland	272,160	377,381	289,446	325,427	326,114	267,753	302,563
Massachusetts	203,339	261,773	299,437	231,926	227,928	259,248	262,583
Michigan	466,914	763,177	808,275	781,769	789,160	970,990	1,068,511
Minnesota	600,907	820,140	873,572	868,775	891,044	945,299	958,391
Mississippi	173,488	241,223	243,088	259,767	284,864	323,319	366,829
Missouri	342,833	475,729	492,871	502,598	530,932	634,191	708,184
Montana	95,399	133,144	144,025	139,731	141,803	160,640	172,695
Nebraska	57,934	74,452	73,776	80,046	75,084	90,676	104,511
Nevada	110,788	143,098	141,730	141,728	152,261	186,578	219,349
New Hampshire	101,725	133,973	149,309	140,156	133,507	151,853	174,662
New Jersey	95,116	140,492	155,352	159,796	167,740	223,437	177,901
New Mexico	93,597	126,146	145,699	165,381	173,793	194,989	206,252
New York	255,426	362,451	345,538	395,277	447,567	464,575	507,940
North Carolina	523,242	681,093	690,628	730,157	612,695	781,733	890,284
North Dakota	70,157	90,491	88,447	99,461	72,458	80,546	85,465
Ohio	451,689	621,569	640,191	655,952	656,936	851,887	976,751
Oklahoma	264,675	346,651	354,311	356,258	370,275	416,514	470,286
Oregon	282,275	417,592	458,867	482,888	495,842	454,133	516,096
Pennsylvania	820,777	1,083,778	1,109,012	1,154,761	1,229,129	1,408,165	1,452,921
Puerto Rico	89,093	86,458	62,215	66,403	76,841	74,381	31,671
Rhode Island	31,375	31,153	24,444	25,178	27,900	37,936	51,369
South Carolina	291,263	350,316	352,199	354,615	423,098	485,487	530,930
South Dakota	51,582	69,679	75,109	77,599	87,589	106,881	115,448
Tennessee	510,125	750,392	711,739	742,222	836,953	964,512	984,760
Texas	1,241,000	1,739,790	1,702,652	1,633,434	1,732,651	1,980,753	2,325,281
Utah	646,257	886,098	957,797	971,339	1,014,277	1,181,564	1,216,773
Vermont	25,932	35,179	38,173	41,495	44,722	51,549	57,965
Virgin Islands	3,487	3,007	2,381	2,758	2,098	2,145	1,639
Virginia	593,346	521,283	527,538	541,716	567,504	655,339	823,513
Washington	322,656	426,468	418,108	644,741	706,260	736,846	781,471
West Virginia	126,262	177,103	180,730	191,353	192,868	224,240	265,705
Wisconsin	470,418	608,028	527,579	560,314	635,528	785,856	731,618
Wyoming	48,486	65,538	70,808	67,421	70,276	84,624	91,384

Checks by type, 2026 so far

The FBI breaks checks out by type only by year. Its monthly file by state and type carried an August 2024 file date when we downloaded it, so we don't use it.

Checks by type for every state and territory, January to September 2026

NICS firearm checks by type, January 1 to September 30, 2026, from the FBI Year by State/Type table. Permit share is permit plus permit recheck checks as a share of all checks (a GunReleases calculation). Select a column heading to sort.

Alabama	343,066	104,936	30.6%	116,708	85,047	8,171	6,003
Alaska	54,300	1,050	1.9%	25,543	21,340	2,154	1,951
Arizona	342,344	77,186	22.5%	154,025	71,743	13,958	8,182
Arkansas	165,321	22,465	13.6%	62,688	55,653	5,034	4,408
California	1,048,868	404,952	38.6%	310,666	159,458	21,850	4
Colorado	352,735	50,580	14.3%	147,430	104,936	27,579	19,010
Connecticut	194,136	102,425	52.8%	67,349	18,482	2,928	0
Delaware	30,013	9,621	32.1%	8,082	9,825	872	427
District of Columbia	11,087	8,802	79.4%	1,591	139	22	38
Florida	864,932	78,167	9.0%	479,551	172,966	40,075	29,494
Georgia	432,051	126,519	29.3%	171,634	89,250	8,533	8,480
Guam	2,693	4	0.1%	1,788	720	122	58
Hawaii	17,208	16,753	97.4%	0	0	0	0
Idaho	187,646	75,672	40.3%	51,699	45,617	6,188	3,137
Illinois	2,088,272	1,789,409	85.7%	197,685	91,219	9,952	0
Indiana	514,926	219,114	42.6%	162,679	98,313	14,450	9,560
Iowa	143,648	76,821	53.5%	31,399	29,657	2,364	1,558
Kansas	131,078	14,953	11.4%	55,654	44,342	5,583	3,720
Kentucky	827,822	641,364	77.5%	88,623	67,955	4,952	6,054
Louisiana	187,429	6,822	3.6%	93,221	62,565	8,269	5,149
Maine	64,011	3,814	6.0%	28,720	26,239	2,001	2,058
Mariana Islands	184	0	0.0%	106	73	1	4
Maryland	272,160	142,674	52.4%	77,392	46,424	2,544	111
Massachusetts	203,339	118,943	58.5%	42,611	21,847	15,309	3,987
Michigan	466,914	278,475	59.6%	77,123	92,185	7,023	3,291
Minnesota	600,907	402,042	66.9%	88,624	91,589	8,263	5,560
Mississippi	173,488	21,254	12.3%	72,566	54,219	4,042	3,975
Missouri	342,833	29,772	8.7%	149,056	117,496	16,196	10,960
Montana	95,399	7,563	7.9%	35,931	38,700	2,719	3,042
Nebraska	57,934	41,133	71.0%	1,466	14,184	296	62
Nevada	110,788	6,262	5.7%	72,777	22,591	2,519	2,886
New Hampshire	101,725	16,957	16.7%	52,704	26,404	3,500	4
New Jersey	95,116	0	0.0%	59,249	28,763	5,287	0
New Mexico	93,597	888	0.9%	46,579	30,311	5,345	3,219
New York	255,426	48,981	19.2%	100,183	87,229	5,434	3,715
North Carolina	523,242	167,518	32.0%	198,097	98,347	10,360	8,758
North Dakota	70,157	28,122	40.1%	16,732	21,711	1,046	1,130
Ohio	451,689	85,503	18.9%	200,391	121,404	11,366	10,984
Oklahoma	264,675	44,022	16.6%	105,613	72,490	10,561	8,495
Oregon	282,275	43,715	15.5%	124,004	94,243	10,344	117
Pennsylvania	820,777	297,130	36.2%	334,747	178,100	205	1
Puerto Rico	89,093	44,923	50.4%	29,667	3,143	360	591
Rhode Island	31,375	342	1.1%	13,006	10,679	3,058	3,950
South Carolina	291,263	104,553	35.9%	103,093	53,710	10,824	4,798
South Dakota	51,582	7,539	14.6%	16,363	23,213	1,439	1,013
Tennessee	510,125	153,589	30.1%	208,215	121,670	14,263	0
Texas	1,241,000	256,853	20.7%	539,487	279,718	45,701	28,267
Utah	646,257	543,243	84.1%	48,261	39,541	8,446	5
Vermont	25,932	0	0.0%	11,466	12,540	854	863
Virgin Islands	3,487	2,262	64.9%	720	186	3	48
Virginia	593,346	3,544	0.6%	282,158	199,144	103,193	4
Washington	322,656	134,812	41.8%	101,632	57,375	5,529	1,054
West Virginia	126,262	21,290	16.9%	42,322	45,573	3,311	3,488
Wisconsin	470,418	218,231	46.4%	128,265	111,633	6,685	549
Wyoming	48,486	5,251	10.8%	18,532	18,905	1,904	1,285

Method

Sources. The FBI's Month/Year, Month/Year by State and Year by State/Type PDFs, linked from the FBI's NICS Firearm Checks page. The copies we used carry an October 1, 2026 file date and run from November 30, 1998 to September 30, 2026.
Checking. For every year, each state row adds up to the FBI's printed grand total. For 2016 through 2026, the 24 type columns add up to each state's total and to the FBI's column totals, and each state's yearly total matches between the two state tables. Any mismatch would have stopped the build.
Type columns. The FBI's 25 types are permit, permit recheck, handgun, long gun, other, multiple, admin, and handgun, long gun and other splits for pre pawn, redemption, returned or disposition, rentals (handgun and long gun only), private sale and return to seller private sale. Years before 2016 print fewer columns, so the type CSV starts in 2016.
NSSF. NSSF's adjusted figures are copied from its September 2026 release, published October 7, 2026 on The Shooting Wire. We only list months whose figures we've read in an NSSF release.

Download and cite the data

nics-checks-by-state.csv: every month by state and territory, 1998-11 to 2026-09 (18,425 rows).
nics-checks-by-state-type.csv: yearly checks by state and type, 2016 to 2026.
nics-checks-national-monthly.csv: the FBI national total and the sum of state rows for every month.
nssf-adjusted-monthly.csv: NSSF adjusted figures (trade association data, not official).
The chart: /data/nics-checks-chart.svg

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Please cite: “NICS firearm background checks by month and state, GunReleases.com, compiled from FBI NICS data.” More on our press page. New datasets are announced in our weekly newsletter.

Gun sales and NICS background checks by month