A new report by the FBI indicates that more gun retrievals were ordered from failed background checks between 2020 and 2021 than ever recorded.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) filed 6,361 retrieval referrals in 2020 due to ineligibility for various reasons, including criminal records, mental health history, and disqualifying military service records, reported Fox News.
In 2021, 5,203 referrals were issued — granting the largest amount of gun retrievals in the history of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) since its onset in 1998, according to USA Today.
June 2020 saw 1,406 referrals ordered, while 2021 saw its high in March with 931 referrals, claims the report.
Those denied can challenge and/or inquire about the decision.
In 2020, 1.45% of NICS background checks resulted in a final transaction denial, while there was 1.26% in 2021, according to Fox News.
The data for 2022 has not been released yet.
The FBI told USA Today that “an increase in total background checks could foreseeably have a corresponding increase in delayed transactions and thus delayed denials.”
According to analysts, the spike may be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw 39.6 million background checks in 2020.