Gun sales were at an all-time high in June, July, and August, according to one metric.
This August saw 1.7 million background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on new gun sales, the most checks ever performed in any August since the creation of the National Instant Background Check System. The agency performed 1.6 million checks in July, the high for that month. They did a further 1.5 million in June, another all-time high.
Background checks are required for all sales made through a federally licensed firearms dealer. The number of background checks performed in a month is often used to gauge how many gun sales took place in that month, though they do not equate to the exact number of gun sales since more than one gun can be sold under a single background check. The numbers do not include sales between private parties either.
The summer has seen a renewed push by many Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, for new gun control measures in the wake of several shootings. Some experts have said they believe the advocacy for new gun control is driving the record sales.
"Whenever there is a call for gun control, sales increase," Larry Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told the New York Daily News. "Unfortunately, this is a pattern that repeats itself."