Gun sales in Maine appear to have shot off the charts during 2020, but in February plummeted earthward.
Background checks of Maine gun buyers totaled 137,149 last year — the most ever since the FBI began documenting them in 1998. The sales streak continued into January, when background checks for the month were 13,693.
But in February, the number dropped 34% to fewer than 9,000, the lowest monthly total since the start of the pandemic.
FBI background checks are widely used to estimate sales, though don’t account for all purchases. State and federal laws require only licensed gun dealers to submit buyer information for review.
Last July, after a spike in gun sales, Mainebiz reported that they were on track to reach a record-setting 129,000 in Maine. But the 2020 total surpassed even that, and exceeded 2019 volume by over 50%. The 2020 transactions also far surpassed the next-busiest year for Maine gun sellers, 2016, when there were 111,582 background checks.