In March 2020, with the first pandemic-related lockdowns sweeping the country, Americans were directed to hunker down in their homes. That month, they went on the biggest gun-buying spree in the countrys history.

The number of estimated gun sales skyrocketed by 80%, topping 2.3 million in a single month for the first time, according to a data analysis from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearm industrys trade group. Gun sales brushed against that monthly peak several times over the next year.

No one knows the true number of gun sales, which arent tracked by any agency. The automated background checks required to buy guns or apply for concealed handgun permits offer the closest proxy, though researchers and groups like the NSSF adjust them in an attempt to distinguish between sales and license applications, or to account for the fact that a customer can buy multiple firearms with one check.

More than two years later, with the worst of the pandemic long over, COVID appears to have left a lasting legacy on gun sales.

Theres no doubt that gun sales have dropped, with monthly sales hovering at a little over half of last years peak. Both Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson , two of the countrys largest publicly traded gun manufacturers, noted declining sales and slackened demand in their last disclosures to investors.

But Americans are still on track for their third-highest gun-buying year of all time, according to NSSF spokesperson Mark Oliva.