Monthly Firearm Background Checks

"He's going vertical, so am I."
--Maverick (Top Gun)

Following up on the previous post, my buddy Don pointed me toward monthly firearm background check data. Monthly checks since Jan 1999 appear below.

The series is stationary (with obvious intra-year seasonal patterns) until 2008 when it began trending higher. This time period corresponds to the credit market meltdown and the onset of "The Great Recession" along with the election of President Obama.

The uptrend went ballistic (!) late last year. This time period corresponds to the re-election of President Obama and the Newtown massacre.

The Dec 2012 and Jan 2013 totals of 2.5+ million checks/month are about double the average of the past four years and 3-4x the average from 1999 thru 2007.