Gun sales plummet in Georgia

President Joe Biden signed in March a new executive order designed to increase the likelihood that firearm background checks are indeed initiated before guns are sold in the United States.

Though many polls indicate that the vast majority of Americans – Republicans and Democrats alike – support universal background checks, the president’s new order does not extend that far. Instead, the order gives Attorney General Merrick Garland greater authority to ensure that gun dealers are complying with current background check laws, whatever they may be. The White House said the order would move the U.S. “as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.”

Background checks are often used to approximate the level of gun sales, but they can also be initiated for reasons that are not tied to gun sales, including rentals and pawn shop transactions. To reach a better estimate of gun sales, 24/7 Wall St. excluded checks that may not be tied to sales.

Nearly 3 million firearm background checks were conducted in the United States in March, according to data compiled by the FBI. While this figure represents a substantial increase of more than 450,000 checks, compared to February, when 2.5 million checks were conducted, it is more or less in line with the number of checks conducted in March of 2022.

However, in some states, the number of background checks was down substantially from where it was a year ago.

In Georgia, 52,381 firearm background checks were conducted in March 2023 – excluding checks not likely tied to gun sales, such as pawn shop transactions, returns, rentals, and rechecks – down from 60,410 the same month last year. The 13.3% decline in estimated gun sales was the 15th largest among states.

All data in this story is from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Background checks are a proxy measure for gun sales and are adjusted to remove checks that were not likely tied to a firearm sale.

Rank	State	1 yr. change in firearm background checks (%)	Firearm background checks, March 2023	Firearm background checks, March 2022
1	Louisiana	-27.6	24,752	34,202
2	South Carolina	-24.7	30,587	40,647
3	Alabama	-23.5	55,265	72,240
4	Rhode Island	-22.1	2,432	3,122
5	Delaware	-19.9	4,551	5,684
6	Connecticut	-18.9	21,344	26,332
7	Mississippi	-17.9	21,824	26,571
8	Kentucky	-17.0	25,105	30,264
9	Tennessee	-16.1	71,551	85,303
10	North Dakota	-15.9	6,426	7,641
11	Missouri	-14.1	46,367	53,978
12	Indiana	-14.0	45,121	52,444
13	Kansas	-13.5	16,226	18,767
14	Ohio	-13.5	62,130	71,815
15	Georgia	-13.3	52,381	60,410
16	South Dakota	-13.0	7,469	8,586
17	New York	-12.2	35,483	40,404
18	Texas	-11.5	139,942	158,102
19	Nevada	-11.5	13,665	15,438
20	Oklahoma	-10.9	29,881	33,543