How many gun background checks did the FBI run last month?

2,221,553 firearm background checks were started through the FBI's instant check system in Oct 2026. A check is not a sale.

Where does the $STRAPPED number come from?

Tickerz reads it from FBI, NICS Firearm Checks: Month/Year. Monthly. The FBI posts a month in the first days of the next. Each number is kept as it was first published, with a timestamped proof, and any later revision is shown beside it.

Can I download the $STRAPPED data?

Yes, free and with no key: the full history as JSON at https://tickerz.com/api/indices/strapped and every period as CSV at https://tickerz.com/api/indices/strapped/history.csv.

$STRAPPED

Gun background checks

2,221,55311.0% upon the month before

checks in Oct 2026Down 14% from 2,593,168 in Oct 2021

Next print

Likely 2,185,616 for Nov 2026, and between 1,936,350 and 2,477,313 eight times in ten. Track record

How it is counted

Normal2,046,920 to 2,354,990

Highest2,757,367Dec 2024

Unusual months0

Counts: Firearm background checks started through the FBI's instant check system (NICS) per month, nationwide. A check is not a sale: the FBI says a one to one link to guns sold cannot be made.
Why it is here: Americans do not tell pollsters when they are nervous. They fill in a Form 4473.
Source: FBI, NICS Firearm Checks: Month/Year
Terms: US government work, public domain.
Cadence: Monthly. The FBI posts a month in the first days of the next. Newest complete month Oct 2026. Read Nov 12, 20:40 UTC.
Baseline: The prior 24 months, 12 needed.

Who pays and who collects

Who pays

$807.5M

Firearm and ammunition makers and importers

Federal excise tax at 10 or 11 percent of sale price, federal fiscal year, Oct 2024 to Sep 2025. Source

$182.9MFirearm and ammunition makers and importersFederal excise tax collected in the newest final quarter, Jul to Sep 2025. Source
26,123,215 checksPeople buying or transferring firearms through licensed dealersFBI background checks started, not guns sold, calendar year 2025. Source

Who collects

$807.5M

Wildlife Restoration Fund (via the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau)

Firearms and ammunition excise tax collected, federal fiscal year, Oct 2024 to Sep 2025. Source

$842.4MState and territory wildlife agenciesPittman-Robertson wildlife restoration funds apportioned to states, federal fiscal year 2026 apportionment. Source
$546.1MSturm, Ruger and CompanyNet sales, all products, from the annual report, calendar year 2025. Source
$447.0MSturm, Ruger and CompanyNet sales, all products, from the quarterly report, nine months to Sep 26 2026. Source
$523.8MSmith and Wesson BrandsNet sales, from the annual report, fiscal year, May 2025 to Apr 2026. Source
$112.6MSmith and Wesson BrandsNet sales, from the quarterly report, quarter, May to Jul 2026. Source

No primary source gives what buyers spent at retail, and a background check is not a sale, so the buyer side has no dollar figure. The two listed gunmakers are a slice of the market, their sales are at wholesale prices, and the wildlife fund figure also includes archery and other taxes and interest.

Quote this number

2,221,553 firearm background checks were started in the US in Oct 2026, according to FBI figures kept by Tickerz.

Source: Tickerz $STRAPPED (Gun background checks), from FBI, NICS Firearm Checks: Month/Year.tickerz.com/x/strapped

Asked often

How many gun background checks did the FBI run last month?: 2,221,553 firearm background checks were started through the FBI's instant check system in Oct 2026. A check is not a sale.
Where does the $STRAPPED number come from?: Tickerz reads it from FBI, NICS Firearm Checks: Month/Year. Monthly. The FBI posts a month in the first days of the next. Each number is kept as it was first published, with a timestamped proof, and any later revision is shown beside it.
Can I download the $STRAPPED data?: Yes, free and with no key: the full history as JSON at https://tickerz.com/api/indices/strapped and every period as CSV at https://tickerz.com/api/indices/strapped/history.csv.

List it

No listing kit for $STRAPPED yet. A kit sets its strikes from 14 published numbers. This index publishes one a month and has none yet.

Resolution

Index

$STRAPPED Gun background checks. Rulebook v0.2, 2026-10-04.

Prints

Monthly. The FBI posts a month in the first days of the next. The newest complete month is on the record after the daily proof at 12:40 UTC.

As first published

Oct 2026 is not timestamped yet. The daily proof at 12:40 UTC adds it.

The number as first published is final for settlement. A revision by the source is shown beside it and never replaces it.

Fallback

A month that is not in the FBI's table stays open. A month the FBI never publishes is void.

Precision

Whole checks, as the FBI's table prints the month. A year's row is read only when its months add up to its own total.

Cost to move

Not practical. Moving a month means starting background checks at licensed dealers by the hundred thousand.

Grade

reference. The FBI publishes the count and a venue can read it. Tickerz adds the score and the record, not the number.

For a rulebook

Settle on the number Tickerz first recorded for $STRAPPED for the month named in the contract, published at tickerz.com/x/strapped and in GET /api/indices/strapped, timestamped daily in Bitcoin with OpenTimestamps.

As first published

None on file yet.

Embed

Theme

Size

Badge

Card

Card, iframe

<iframe src="https://tickerz.com/embed/strapped" title="$STRAPPED on Tickerz" width="480" height="200" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy" allow="clipboard-write"></iframe>

Proof and data

Proof: Every reading is timestamped in Bitcoin once a day, so nobody can change it later. The newest proof covers Nov 12, in Bitcoin block 975,557.Proof file Live feed How it works
Data: The full history, free, no key.JSON CSV API docs
Related tokens: $SWBI$RGR

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