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A record number of background checks initiated with the National Instant Check System (NICS) for the month of March demonstrates once again that gun control hysteria pushes more Americans to exercise their right to own firearms, the Second Amendment Foundation said Tuesday.

According to raw data from the FBI, last month saw a record 2,767,699 background checks initiated with the system, which is up 334,607 over the number of checks for March 2017, and up 244,434 NICS initiations in March 2016. While the raw data shows the number of NICS checks initiated, the FBI notes in its monthly reports, it does not reflect the actual number of firearms sold for that time period.

But SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said the spike is significant because of the anti-gun emotional tidal wave following the tragic incident at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February that was quickly exploited by the gun prohibition lobby.

“There is only one reason gun sales may have hit a new record high last month,” Gottlieb said, “and that’s the attack on Second Amendment rights that has reached a fever pitch. Even before the victims were identified, the anti-gun lobby was hard at work demonizing gun rights and young adult firearm owners at a level we’ve never witnessed before.”

He noted that this is hardly a new phenomenon, and that gun control extremists apparently haven’t figured out that with each new alarmist campaign, they compel more Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

“The question now is whether student David Hogg and his gun ban buddies in the media finally learn that calls for more new gun control laws only increase gun sales,” Gottlieb wondered. “When you blame people for crimes they didn’t commit and attack their rights, they will defend those rights by exercising them.”