It’s common for gun sales to jump when a Democrat takes over the White House. In January 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated for his first term, the total number of firearm background checks registered through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reached 1.2 million. That was a record at the time and a nearly 29 percent jump from January 2008.

In January 2017, when Trump was inaugurated, more than 2 million background checks were recorded, a 20 percent drop from 2016.

Biden pledged during his campaign to reinstate a ban on the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He also proposed a buyback program for assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that would require owners to sell them to the federal government or register them under the National Firearms Act.

In three individual weeks in January, there was a record number of background checks, climbing into the top five spots since the FBI began tracking in 1998.

Top five highest weeks of NICS background checks since 1998

Firearm stocks spiked in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 riot and as election deniers swarmed statehouses across the country, extending a trend line seen in November and December amid the particularly polarizing political climate.

There is no national registry that records who owns guns and when they purchase them. But according to a survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation last summer, roughly 40 percent — or 8.4 million — of the guns purchased in 2020 were by first-time buyers. It also found that 40 percent of the purchasers were women, Oliva said, and that the largest demographic group of buyers was Black Americans.

And though hunting has become more popular as more Americans stay home and engage in socially distant activities, most firearms sold last year were small handguns. Buyers typically say they want such firearms for self-defense or personal safety, Oliva said.