NICS Firearm Background Checks: Year by State and Type Each column represents the type of transaction submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). In addition, each type of transaction is broken down by the type of firearm—handgun, long gun, and other. The types of firearms are defined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as follows: • Handgun—(a) any firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand; and (b) any combination of parts from which a firearm described in paragraph (a) can be assembled. • Long Gun—a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in (a) a fixed metallic cartridge to fire a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger; or (b) a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger. • Other—refers to frames, receivers, and other firearms that are neither handguns nor long guns (rifles or shotguns), such as firearms having a pistol grip that expel a shotgun shell, or National Firearms Act firearms, including silencers. The transaction types indicated in yellow on the chart are for background checks initiated by an officially-licensed Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) or criminal justice/law enforcement agency prior to the issuance of a firearm-related permit or transfer. The indication of “multiple” denotes a background check where more than one type of firearm is associated to a single background check and “admin” denotes the administrative checks that are for other authorized uses of the NICS. Other types of transactions are explained below: • Pre-Pawn—background checks requested by an officially-licensed FFL on prospective firearm transferees seeking to pledge or pawn a firearm as security for the payment or repayment of money, prior to actually pledging or pawning the firearm. • Redemption—background checks requested by an officially-licensed FFL on prospective firearm transferees attempting to regain possession of a firearm after pledging or pawning a firearm as security at a pawn shop. • Returned/Disposition—background checks requested by criminal justice/law enforcement agencies prior to returning a firearm in its possession to the respective transferee, to ensure the individual is not prohibited. • Rentals—background checks requested by an officially-licensed FFL on prospective firearm transferees attempting to possess a firearm when the firearm is loaned or rented for use off the premises of the business. • Private Sale—background checks requested by an officially-licensed FFL on prospective firearm transferees attempting to possess a firearm from a private party seller who is not an officially-licensed FFL. • Return to Seller-Private Sale—background checks requested by an officially-licensed FFL on prospective firearm transferees attempting to possess a firearm from a private party seller who is not an officially-licensed FFL. It is important to note that the statistics within this chart 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. Page 1 of 25 NICS Firearm Background Checks: Year by State/Type Year 2021 January 1, 2021 - August 31, 2021 Permit Pre-Pawn Redemption Returned/Disposition Rentals Private Sale Return to Seller - Private Sale State / Territory Permit Recheck Handgun Long Gun *Other **Multiple Admin Handgun Long Gun *Other Handgun Long Gun *Other Handgun Long Gun *Other Handgun Long Gun Handgun Long Gun *Other Handgun Long Gun *Other Totals Alabama 265,055 3,640 199,837 130,807 13,536 8,811 1 211 106 20 17,577 7,030 83 268 0 0 0 0 240 213 68 4 14 2 647,523 Alaska 2,027 105 27,749 24,854 3,247 1,819 0 12 6 2 1,020 713 9 241 187 0 0 0 64 68 9 0 1 0 62,133 Arizona 72,882 6,759 189,477 89,602 15,922 9,935 0 76 38 16 8,781 3,167 37 1,197 119 17 0 0 137 98 21 4 2 2 398,289 Arkansas 35,702 7,337 75,438 53,047 4,300 3,659 47 120 91 10 7,451 6,190 19 0 0 0 0 0 111 127 9 2 1 0 193,661 California 145,348 90,817 356,378 237,920 52,789 0 0 32 7 0 3,710 2,483 104 13,313 7,262 799 0 0 64,645 25,895 5,204 355 185 5 1,007,251 Colorado 86,788 72 190,254 119,221 16,686 16,445 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2,534 409 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 432,423 Connecticut 105,880 4,141 58,248 17,227 11,957 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 686 150 112 0 0 0 198,404 Delaware 3,855 0 25,913 13,588 1,595 1,158 0 0 0 1 101 62 1 618 0 1 0 0 634 296 50 5 5 0 47,883 District of Columbia 4,907 1 2,744 51 0 8 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 237 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,954 Florida 244,828 0 589,720 224,579 45,648 26,830 52 86 45 4 25,663 6,974 67 8,839 849 80 0 0 3,406 2,059 664 290 229 13 1,180,925 Georgia 248,313 0 201,678 88,334 8,873 7,117 0 139 85 17 13,141 5,999 83 265 0 0 0 0 192 72 14 4 4 1 574,331 Guam 0 0 1,838 793 232 94 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2,957 Hawaii 11,397 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11,433 Idaho 61,027 51 60,830 50,486 5,794 3,349 1 21 26 2 2,403 2,284 15 404 77 6 0 0 113 118 11 0 2 0 187,020 Illinois 872,042 5,902,820 240,860 105,339 3,061 9,923 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,134,045 Indiana 9,376 982,230 215,553 120,617 16,717 8,989 695 64 44 15 4,750 2,549 198 273 26 2 0 0 490 401 101 19 16 2 1,363,127 Iowa 87,775 72,032 8,330 22,438 556 155 149 2 6 0 29 231 1 354 119 37 0 0 15 19 4 0 0 0 192,252 Kansas 19,029 88 67,017 50,010 6,569 3,798 0 62 25 12 4,254 1,899 104 537 102 8 0 0 74 79 17 2 1 0 153,687 Kentucky 10,233 2,122,240 116,071 80,145 5,419 5,932 19 167 90 13 12,020 6,748 32 73 37 0 0 0 193 192 17 9 8 0 2,359,658 Louisiana 28,566 2,959 136,763 70,635 9,805 6,597 2 61 44 19 7,318 3,781 123 0 0 0 0 0 202 118 13 3 5 1 267,015 Maine 5,341 39 37,918 33,113 3,409 2,002 22 4 4 3 466 440 7 196 61 8 0 0 88 60 10 2 5 0 83,198 Mariana Islands 0 0 99 71 13 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 198 Maryland 51,701 225 76,969 56,810 1,130 82 1 3 7 8 420 615 13 759 140 49 0 0 9 102 9 0 6 8 189,066 Massachusetts 82,870 10 58,153 29,410 10,325 2,578 37 2 3 4 60 75 14 6 5 0 0 0 252 316 87 7 9 0 184,223 Michigan 183,294 61,380 247,601 153,937 20,834 7,372 3 30 32 11 202 1,541 44 676 122 1 0 0 320 93 18 6 7 1 677,525 Minnesota 174,133 224,725 126,749 98,160 11,421 5,561 0 17 18 3 1,147 1,273 35 612 153 17 0 0 217 185 14 0 6 1 644,447 Mississippi 21,992 0 102,583 61,024 5,212 3,997 0 81 43 8 11,106 5,507 26 99 16 1 0 0 99 49 10 8 9 0 211,870 Missouri 41,800 0 201,583 138,278 19,113 10,499 0 108 74 12 9,716 4,948 99 2,607 269 19 0 0 503 364 62 18 23 3 430,098 Montana 13,897 11 40,368 39,706 3,130 2,663 139 44 42 3 2,905 3,370 6 252 67 10 0 0 35 53 8 0 2 0 106,711 Nebraska 43,460 748 1,745 15,508 284 45 0 0 3 0 23 251 1 210 41 1 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 62,329 Nevada 34,814 0 59,032 26,253 3,918 3,440 6 3 2 2 1,620 507 3 3 0 0 0 0 2,804 1,001 136 0 0 0 133,544 New Hampshire 10,911 34 59,339 31,850 1,673 2 225 3 124 0 1 72 0 1,146 86 35 0 0 0 10 0 2 0 0 105,513 New Jersey 0 0 105,295 53,557 6,743 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 916 630 51 21 14 11 167,241 New Mexico 7,854 0 67,270 42,490 5,941 3,506 1 64 43 3 2,554 2,646 19 344 0 0 0 0 817 427 31 14 18 1 134,043 New York 31,274 18,438 89,396 139,456 23,887 2,611 0 6 10 20 330 310 80 488 681 4 30 51 2,528 2,947 382 50 91 7 313,077 North Carolina 356,973 450 15,962 134,901 11,833 1,853 0 109 106 12 12,649 9,117 101 5,204 825 77 47 15 30 138 22 3 5 0 550,432 North Dakota 5,963 46 20,041 23,872 1,542 1,065 0 5 16 11 503 690 14 76 20 8 0 0 27 28 3 0 0 0 53,930 Ohio 163,709 766 243,965 140,395 13,947 10,484 3 79 39 17 8,863 3,543 64 1,227 469 108 0 0 244 176 24 8 3 7 588,140 Oklahoma 24,785 15 125,310 81,308 13,692 7,804 2 129 88 11 13,425 7,570 45 2,211 6 1 0 0 325 277 101 7 5 2 277,119 Oregon 61,598 8,612 148,952 88,094 0 87 27 0 0 0 1 0 0 1,311 354 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 309,043 Pennsylvania 302,401 0 462,532 191,422 274 0 4,006 0 0 0 0 0 0 5,452 855 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 966,950 Puerto Rico 0 0 37,205 2,578 559 402 0 5 2 2 269 47 12 0 0 0 0 0 5,729 478 20 30 9 2 47,349 Rhode Island 0 0 12,861 7,773 936 3,260 0 0 0 0 22 10 1 1,219 462 919 0 0 78 36 2 5 3 0 27,587 South Carolina 119,074 3,711 128,359 61,299 7,648 4,434 15 62 39 9 6,521 2,786 39 1,285 81 25 0 0 105 69 22 4 1 1 335,589 South Dakota 7,826 135 27,442 29,232 2,491 1,561 0 12 7 2 1,104 1,000 14 5 1 2 0 0 112 196 10 2 0 3 71,157 Tennessee 170,441 32,879 284,787 154,212 15,892 0 1 0 0 0 7 2 0 886 59 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 659,169 Texas 325,492 0 585,707 292,507 39,881 26,372 34 549 262 50 48,166 20,791 519 689 68 15 0 0 605 412 74 8 15 5 1,342,221 Utah 134,594 591,052 53,980 39,855 4,425 0 0 51 57 16 1,755 1,629 9 1,490 417 294 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 829,624 Vermont 1 0 17,311 14,944 1,383 1,009 16 13 19 5 68 97 35 0 0 0 0 0 33 50 6 0 0 0 34,990 Virgin Islands 1,005 0 384 37 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 2 0 0 0 0 1,462 Virginia 8,842 5,711 253,922 138,761 32,844 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2,782 564 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 443,429 Washington 134,773 3,118 193,438 108,531 30,348 521 193 12 386 49 2,189 3,900 226 4,452 866 72 0 0 3,946 3,112 1,673 3 26 33 491,867 West Virginia 23,111 1,161 55,763 51,327 3,116 3,301 1 53 45 2 5,918 4,868 9 52 4 2 1 0 84 80 2 2 1 0 148,903 Wisconsin 199,187 6,375 188,550 110,231 10,891 471 0 0 9 80 968 1,119 160 1,199 323 12 0 0 0 68 2 0 0 0 519,645 Wyoming 6,189 165 23,210 21,582 1,802 1,290 80 14 22 4 1,038 1,112 18 159 17 0 0 0 30 39 4 3 0 0 56,778 Totals 5,064,335 10,155,108 6,918,479 4,112,177 533,245 222,910 5,785 2,511 2,115 478 242,235 129,946 2,489 66,029 16,235 2,900 78 66 91,166 41,312 9,097 900 731 111 27,620,438 *Refers to frames, receivers, and other firearms that are neither handguns nor long guns (rifles or shotguns), such as firearms having a pistol grip that expel a shotgun shell, or National Firearms Act firearms, including silencers.