DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Gun sales keep going up in the commonwealth, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
We've seen this trend of a steady rise in sales throughout 2020. Pennsylvania State Police releasing the latest numbers on firearm background check systems earlier this week.
“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 Pennsylvania State Police.
From October through the end of December, State Police said their Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) broke a record.
The previous 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.
To be clear, PICS checks not only include those purchasing a firearm, but also those attempting to purchase a license to carry.
While 2020 checks steadily rose, officials attribute that to the unusual year we've experienced.
“2020 was a very interesting 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 firearm transfer of 2020 was in June at around 114,000 -- followed by November at around 109,000, and then December at roughly 92,000.
Just a reminder, he said this doesn't coincide with how many firearms there are because a gun owner can go and buy four guns but only one check will be completed.
If you are a first time gun owner the Pennsylvania State Police have a number of resources including safety material on their website.
If you visit any of the State Police locations they will have a paper with rules and tips on the front, plus a log on the back for you to keep track of the make/model/serial number of your firearm. In addition to that, they will have a State Police gun lock.
You can find more resources here regarding gun safety.
Watch firearm safety videos on their website.