The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) experienced a 78 percent increase in processed background checks in March of 2020 in comparison to the same time last year, according to data obtained by POLITICO. 

In March 2019, there were 823,273 attempted gun purchases and in March 2020, there were more than 1.4 million. The jump in these transactions has occurred amidst the coronavirus pandemic that struck the country earlier in the year.

The NICS reported 23,692 blocked gun transactions from this past March - a number that’s more than doubled since February 2020. The data indicates that the number of people attempting to purchase guns, who aren’t legally able to own them, has spiked.

In March 2019, the NICS only blocked around 9,500 gun buys and around 9,700 in February 2020. 

Reasons for blocking gun sales include a citizen convicted of a crime with a punishment that exceeds more than a year in jail time, a citizen who is “involuntarily committed” to a mental institution or a citizen who’s under a restraining order relating to issues of harassment, stalking or threatening, according to the NICS website.

However, the NICS system has a number of loopholes, and “those loopholes mean any spike in gun purchases likely includes an increase in gun purchases by people who can’t legally own them,” POLITICO reported.

If NICS fails to respond to an attempted gun purchase or background check within a 3-day period, the sale can proceed.

There were over 75,000 gun buys that were delayed past the 3-day mark in March 2020, a number that's doubled since the month prior. 

“This FBI data confirms our fear that America’s background check system is completely overwhelmed, which means that more guns are slipping through the cracks and being sold to prohibited purchasers," John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization that advocates for strict gun control, told POLITICO. "Mitch McConnell can stop this by taking action to close the Charleston loophole, but he’s too scared of the gun lobby's waning political power to do anything, even as gun violence rises in the midst of a pandemic.”

Rachel Bucchino is a reporter at the National Interest. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill.

Image: Reuters.