Citizens across the United States had set numerous records last year in the form of the number of background checks being run for firearm purchases across the country. While each background check doesn’t necessarily translate to a single purchase, the sheer number of checks that was conducted throughout the year reveals that people across the country are now more inclined to purchase guns for their personal protection and use that ever before.

The increasing need is of course very much understandable seeing as that gun-related violence has been continually increasing for the past couple of years. The records set for last year however seems to continue as last month, January 2016, was officially revealed to be the ninth consecutive month of record breaking background checks in the United States.

The consecutive background check records initially started in May of last year which saw the most checks in the month of May of any year on record. It was then followed by June, which also saw the most checks in any June month on record. This had gone on until December which was actually the month which had the most background checks conducted out of any month on record. December 2015 alone saw a total of 3.3 million checks, beating the previous record by more than half a million.

Despite the end of what some critics have called as the “Year of the Gun”, the trend still seems to continue with no apparent end in sight. According to FBI figures, a total of 2.5 million background checks were conducted last month, January 2016. As previously mentioned, the amount of checks does not translate to a single purchase, as an individual could potentially buy more than one firearm after passing a background check indicating that there could be hundreds of millions of guns currently circulating within the country.