National News
Gun background checks in Fla. top one million for first time
January 20, 2017 posted by Steve Brownstein
For the first time, the state's Department of Law Enforcement conducted more than one million background checks on people seeking to buy a gun. 2016 also saw the biggest year-to-year jump in the number of people seeking to buy a gun.
State records show 1,037,000 people had their backgrounds checked to buy a gun last year. It is the first time the number passed the one million mark.
Brandon Long is the Gun Sales Manager at Kevin’s Guns and Sporting Goods in Tallahassee. We asked him how he would describe the gun business this year.
"It’s pretty good. It’s doing real well” responded Long.
152,000 more people sought to buy a gun in 2016 than in the previous year, also setting a year-to-year record.
Not everybody who goes through a background check gets a gun. Rejections run about one percent.
The inauguration of a new president is expected to take some of the heat out of the retail gun market.
“Together, we will defeat the rigged system,” said then-candidate Donald Trump during his October appearance in the state capital.
One dealer told us that everyone who was afraid that the government was coming for their guns already has all they need.
Stephen is a case in point. He’s trading rather than adding a gun.
"Trying to upgrade what I have because I’m not accurate with it, so why have a gun if you are not accurate with it?" says Stephen.
Manager Brandon Long says he's expecting a shift in the types of guns he’s selling.
“We just don’t see as much of the freak out buying, you know, people prepper buying and stuff like that. You see sales in other places. Hunting guns and handguns," Long says.
Passing a background check does not guarantee that a gun was actually sold, nor does it mean the buyer purchased just one weapon.
Last year, 13,603 people did not pass the background check and were refused the right to purchase a gun in Florida.