Virginia Gun Sales Spike Amid Nationwide Increase in February

The firearms industry got some good news this week with the National Shooting Sports Foundation reporting a 3.5% increase in firearm transfers compared to February, 2025. The 1,265,320 NICS checks on gun transfers is a notable increase from the 1,222,980 adjusted NICS checks the organization reported last year. 

One state can account for almost 50% of the increased number. In Virginia, where Democrats have already approved a number of new gun control bills (more on that in an upcoming post) with more poised for passage in the state legislature, NICS checks on gun transfers increased by more than 23,000 compared to February, 2025.

Last February there were 42,193 NICS checks on transfers in Virginia, according to the NSSF. Last month that number jumped to 65,501. The state also saw a huge number of NICS checks for NFA transfers. While Texas topped the states with 27,986 NFA checks, Virginia (14,230 checks) was close behind Florida (14,629), and well ahead of fourth place Georgia (8.806) and fifth place North Carolina (8,128).

In a statement, NSSF Managing Director of Public Affairs Mark Oliva said the February NICS figures shows “the desire for lawful gun ownership is alive and well” across the United States. 

When instances of lawlessness and concerns for personal safety arise, Americans will respond by exercising their Second Amendment rights to both keep and bear arms. We continue to see the trend of gun owners buying the firearms of their choosing in states where Second Amendment rights are threatened and before that right is unconstitutionally deprived of them. Virginia’s background checks were more than 23,000 higher in February than they were a year ago. That’s an increase of more than 55 percent, which followed a nearly 26 percent increase last month in the face of a looming ban on the most popular centerfire rifle in America – the Modern Sporting Rifle.

 Additionally, 2026 is proving to be the Year of the Suppressor with over 200,000 National Firearms Act (NFA) checks in February alone, representing a 167 percent increase over the same time period last year. This proves there was pent-up demand and the wisdom of removing high-cost barriers of entry to exercising rights.

The number of NICS checks performed on NFA transfers in February is a good sign. It’s the second straight month of more than 200,000 NFA checks, and as Oliva says, those numbers do show the pent-up demand for suppressors and other NFA items across the country. 

Will we continue to see an increase in sales in March? My guess is yes, and not just in Virginia, though I do expect sales to remain high in the Old Dominion, especially with the Democrats’ ban on “assault weapons” and “large capacity” magazines set for final legislative approval as early as today. Last February there were 14,286 NICS checks run for long gun transfers in Virginia. That number increased last month to 22,122, and my guess is the vast majority of those transfers involved guns that are subject to the gun and magazine ban legislation. 

Under the current language of both the House and Senate bills, sales of so-called assault weapons will be prohibited in the Commonwealth starting on July 1 of this year, and once Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs the ban into law I suspect that sales of those soon-to-be banned firearms are going to skyrocket even higher. 

The military operations in Iran and the threat of terror attacks here at home are also likely to have an impact on Americans’ gun-buying habits, particularly after the mass shooting in Austin, Texas that appears to have been a response to the launch of Operation Epic Fury. I don’t think the increase will be as significant as what we saw after 9/11, when sales increased by as much as 12%, but the prospect of terror attacks here at home could easily lead to an increase in sales of carry guns as more of us come to the realization that now is not a great time to be defenseless.  

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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