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 Mississippi, 21,824 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 26,571 the same month last year. The 17.9% decline in estimated gun sales was the seventh 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.

RankState1 yr. change in firearm background checks (%)Firearm background checks, March 2023Firearm background checks, March 20221Louisiana-27.624,75234,2022South Carolina-24.730,58740,6473Alabama-23.555,26572,2404Rhode Island-22.12,4323,1225Delaware-19.94,5515,6846Connecticut-18.921,34426,3327Mississippi-17.921,82426,5718Kentucky-17.025,10530,2649Tennessee-16.171,55185,30310North Dakota-15.96,4267,64111Missouri-14.146,36753,97812Indiana-14.045,12152,44413Kansas-13.516,22618,76714Ohio-13.562,13071,81515Georgia-13.352,38160,41016South Dakota-13.07,4698,58617New York-12.235,48340,40418Texas-11.5139,942158,10219Nevada-11.513,66515,43820Oklahoma-10.929,88133,543

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