The adjusted NICS National Instant Criminal Background Check System figures for April 2014 are 1,031,959 checks, the second highest on record in the 17-year history of the program.

In the seemingly ever-increasing rise in gun sales under the Obama Administration, the statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation put the number of checks performed in August at 1,745,410, which is the highest on record.

The gun industry’s trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, adjusts the figure to better reflect gun sales by subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Connecticut, Illinois, and Utah for concealed carry permit applications as well as checks on active concealed carry weapons permit databases.

The final figure of 1,031,959 is an increase of 4.3 percent compared to the August 2014 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 989,337 and was only narrowly edged out by 2012’s data.

“Americans especially women are increasingly exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and other lawful purposes like target shooting and hunting,” Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel told Guns.com Thursday. “When one looks at NICS data over time you see that this is a long-term trend, not simply a short term spike.”