Gun background checks hit record highs: FBI

WASHINGTON - Reuters

The number of FBI background checks required for Americans buying guns set a record in December, indicating that more people may purchase one after the Connecticut school massacre stirred interest in self-defense and prompted renewed talk of limits on firearms, according to FBI data.

The FBI said it recorded 2.78 million background checks during the month, surpassing the mark set in November of 2.01 million checks, about a 39 percent rise. The latest monthly figure was up 49 percent over December 2011, when the FBI performed a then-record 1.86 million checks. Consumer demand for guns appears to have accounted for the uptick in activity after the massacre which a gunman shot twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as customers fear for safety or worry that lawmakers might ban certain firearms.