In March, the FBI reported almost 4.7 million background checks -- the most of any month since the agency started keeping track more than 20 years ago, and a whopping 77% increase over March 2019. It's first-time gun owners like Armstrong who are adding to the upswing in gun ownership. More than 2 million of the March backgound checks were for new gun purchases, according to the National Shooting Sports Federation, the firearms industry trade group that compares FBI background check numbers with actual sales data to determine its sales figures. About 40% of buyers in early 2020 were first-time buyers, according to the foundation. In 2020, half of all gun buyers were women, researchers say. One-fifth were Hispanic, and one-fifth were Black, according to the Northeastern University & Harvard Injury Control Research Center.