Welcome to

Since the beginning of the year, more than eight hundred thousand background checks have been run on perspective gun buyers here in Florida, which is a new record for firearm purchases.

Jim Delprete was buying himself a Christmas present, his dream gun. “Colt .45, lever action, I’ve always wanted a Henry rifle,” says Jim Delprete, Gun Owner.

Once Jim’s personal information was typed into the terminal and the dealer entered his license, the sale was approved in less than five minutes. “This is the one I’ve been wanting for a long time and thank the good Lord above, today’s the day,” says Delprete.

Behind the terminal are more than 60 analysts. They search criminal records seven days a week. Jayme Chamberlain says the on line approval has made all the difference in the world. “Prior to that, we could be backed up maybe half an hour, 45 minutes on the phone,” says Jayme Chamberlain, Kevin’s Guns and Sporting Goods.

Only once in the last ten years, at the height of the recession, have the number of background checks gone down.

So many people are buying guns the state is actually hiring more people to keep up with background checks.

Last week, The Florida Department of Law Enforcement got the okay to ask lawmakers for the authority to hire 18 more people. “We are only closed on Christmas day and New Year’s day,” says Robin Sparkman, FDLE.

The background checks are paid for by a five dollar fee on each record search. Second Amendment supporters applaud the expansion. “The push at the National level for more gun control has awaken a lot of people. If they want to keep these rights alive, they need to act on them,” says Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.

The state has been averaging just over twenty seven hundred background checks a day in December.