As the coronavirus spreads in the United States, demand for guns is surging—and that has experts worried about the prospect of gun violence down the line. In March, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) recorded 3.7 million checks—34 percent more than the previous month, and 12 percent more than the previous record in December of 2015 at the height of the “Barack Boom.” !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}})}(); Because no federal database tracks firearm sales, background checks are seen as an indicator of overall gun purchases.