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Pennsylvania’s background checks for gun sales, carry permits drop

  • Jeremy Long/WITF
In this April 25, 2019, file photo, a man looks at cases of firearms in the halls of the Indianapolis Convention Center where the National Rifle Association will be holding its 148th annual meeting in Indianapolis.

 Lisa Marie Pane / AP Photo

In this April 25, 2019, file photo, a man looks at cases of firearms in the halls of the Indianapolis Convention Center where the National Rifle Association will be holding its 148th annual meeting in Indianapolis.

After dealing with record requests for background checks over the past couple of years, the  State Police reports a decline during this year’s first quarter.  

The law enforcement agency completed 321,666 background checks using the Pennsylvania Instant Check System, or PICS, in the first three months of 2022. That was about a 25 percent decrease over the first quarter of 2021, when the system was used 427,450 times. 

The first quarter numbers this year are also lower than the fourth quarter of 2021 when 337,911 background checks were completed. 

PICS was established in 1998 and is used by county sheriffs, chiefs of police of cities of the first class, and licensed firearms dealers in Pennsylvania to determine if a person is legally allowed to acquire a license to carry firearms or buy a firearm.

State police denied 5,486 people from purchasing a firearm or obtaining a license to carry a firearm in the first three months of 2022.

A record 1,445,910 background checks in 2020, and a 47 percent increase over 2019.

Unofficially, the agency processed 1,402,625 background check requests in 2021, slightly lower than the previous year. 

In 2021, Americans bought more than 18.5 million firearms according to The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade group. It analyzed FBI background check data.

It was the second-best year for gun sales after 2020 when 21 million background checks were completed by the FBI.

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