A shooting at Michigan State University in February left three students dead and five injured. The incident, one of the nation’s seemingly endless stream of large-scale gun violence, prompted Michigan State Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks to indicate that the state legislature would be taking action soon to initiate stricter gun control. Among the policies Brinks suggested is more stringent background checks. (These are the states with the loosest gun laws.)

In January, about 2.6 million firearm background checks were initiated in the United States, according to data compiled by the FBI, a slight increase from January 2022, when 2.5 million checks were conducted. Background checks are often used as a proxy for measuring gun sales in the U.S.

The FBI conducted an estimated 55,581 background checks related to firearm sales in Oregon in January 2023, up 88.7% from the same period in 2022.

Adjusting for population, this comes out to about 13.1 background checks for every 1,000 people, the most among states. The largest share of background checks in the state were for sales of handguns.

It is important to note that there are a number of reasons background checks are initiated that are clearly not tied to the sale of a gun, such as pawn shop transactions and rentals. These and other background check classifications unrelated to firearm sales were excluded from analysis. A full explanation of our methodology is available here.

 

Rank	State	Background checks for gun sales; Jan. 2023 (per 1k people)	Total firearm sale background checks; Jan. 2023	1-yr. change in background checks (%)	Most common type of check
1	Oregon	13.1	55,581	88.7	Handguns
2	Alabama	9.7	49,349	-17.1	Handguns
3	Tennessee	9.4	66,170	7.3	Handguns
4	Wisconsin	8.6	50,957	0.8	Handguns
5	Idaho	8.6	16,752	8.4	Handguns
6	West Virginia	7.9	14,092	18.8	Long guns
7	Pennsylvania	7.8	100,769	9.0	Handguns
8	Montana	7.5	8,450	1.3	Handguns
9	New Hampshire	7.3	10,254	9.3	Handguns
10	Washington	7.1	55,586	7.9	Handguns
11	Wyoming	7.1	4,109	-9.8	Handguns
12	Illinois	7.0	88,501	19.4	Handguns
13	Colorado	7.0	40,766	0.6	Handguns
14	Alaska	6.7	4,949	3.5	Handguns
15	Maryland	6.5	39,819	133.6	Handguns
16	Mississippi	6.4	18,947	8.6	Handguns
17	North Dakota	6.4	5,013	1.6	Long guns
18	Oklahoma	6.3	25,438	2.7	Handguns
19	Missouri	6.3	38,808	5.6	Handguns
20	South Dakota	6.2	5,680	-9.6	Long guns
21	Utah	6.2	20,799	7.2	Handguns
22	New Mexico	6.1	12,849	9.1	Handguns
23	Michigan	5.9	58,839	6.0	Handguns
24	Indiana	5.7	38,830	1.5	Handguns
25	Maine	5.6	7,807	9.5	Handguns
26	South Carolina	5.5	28,831	4.1	Handguns
27	Connecticut	5.4	19,526	9.4	Handguns
28	Minnesota	5.3	30,507	-8.8	Handguns
29	Virginia	5.2	45,391	9.1	Handguns
30	Arkansas	5.1	15,623	2.8	Handguns
31	Arizona	5.1	37,666	14.9	Handguns
32	Vermont	5.0	3,244	2.4	Handguns
33	Kansas	4.9	14,537	4.6	Handguns
34	Florida	4.9	109,323	1.9	Handguns
35	Louisiana	4.8	22,056	-15.0	Handguns
36	North Carolina	4.8	50,876	6.8	Long guns
37	Kentucky	4.6	20,835	8.2	Handguns
38	Georgia	4.2	45,787	-0.2	Handguns
39	Ohio	4.1	47,866	-2.3	Handguns
40	Texas	4.0	121,594	2.0	Handguns
41	Delaware	3.9	4,006	-10.1	Handguns
42	Iowa	3.9	12,358	16.6	Long guns
43	Nebraska	3.1	6,176	6.7	Long guns
44	Nevada	3.1	9,771	-26.7	Handguns
45	Massachusetts	3.0	20,954	21.4	Handguns
46	California	2.4	95,050	3.6	Handguns
47	Rhode Island	1.9	2,059	-3.0	Handguns
48	New Jersey	1.8	16,745	28.2	Handguns
49	New York	1.4	27,662	0.5	Long guns
50	Hawaii	1.3	1,847	36.6	N/A

 

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