Pennsylvania State Police said gun sales are increasing in the commonwealth. “Once again it broke a record, for the entire year we saw the highest transitions for pics ever,” said Corporal Brent Miller, Director of Communications with the PA State Police.
According to a Bryanna Gallagher report for FOX 43 there has been a steady rise trend throughout 2020. From October through the end of December, State Police said their Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) broke a record.
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The previous gun sales record came from the third quarter of 2020. Miller said in the fourth quarter they conducted 420,581 PICS checked. In 2019 that number was significantly lower at 272,901. PICS checks not only include those purchasing a firearm, but also those attempting to purchase a license to carry.
High numbers
Officials attribute the increase to the unusual events of this year. “We have a global pandemic going on as well as a major election and civil unrest throughout a quarter of the year. So with everything tied together we saw a number of pics checks increase, in fact over 2019 was a 47% increase(…) everything combined together factor in to why we saw such high numbers in 2020,” explained Miller.
He said the highest gun sales transfer of 2020 was in June at around 114,000, followed by November at around 109,000, and then December at roughly 92,000.
Miller said this does not coincide with how many firearms there are because a gun owner can buy four guns but only one check will be completed.
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