Rob Gotham calls in a background check for a gun buyer at Great Lakes Outdoor Supply in Middlefield, Ohio Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. President Barack Obama on Wednesday launched the most sweeping effort to curb U.S. gun violence in nearly two decades, announcing a $500 million package that sets up a fight with Congress over bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines just a month after a shooting in Connecticut killed 20 school children. Credit: AP
There have been a total of 65,376,373 background checks conducted on Americans seeking to purchase firearms since February 2009, the first full month of President Barack Obama's first term, CNSNews.com reports. To put that into perspective, the number of gun background checks under Obama outnumber the entire population of the U.K., which is estimated at about 61.8 million.
Gun sales have skyrocketed since Obama took office, according to FBI data. In fact, gun owners have argued that Obama is the best thing to happen to the firearms industry. Local police departments are reporting ammo shortages and places like Walmart have enacted ammunition limits to deal with the high demand.
From CNSNews.com:
In 2009, there were 13,984,953 background checks for Americans buying firearms. If we subtract the 1,212,860 checks completed in the month of January, the total checks for the year under Obama were 12,772,090.For 2010, background checks totaled 14,320,489. In 2011, checks were 16,336,732, and in 2012, 19,463,832. Background checks for the month of January 2013 were 2,483,230.
This totals 65,376,373 background checks completed since President Obama's first full month in office, or 44,748 background checks per day!
So how does Obama stack up to his predecessor in terms of background checks for guns? There were 34,214,066 background checks performed for Americans seeking to purchase guns during former President George W. Bush's first term. Obama's 65,376,373 background checks is 91.1 percent higher than Bush's.
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