Crime & Safety

Gun Sales Reach All Time High in Virginia

Transactions up more than 10 percent from 2012, State Police report.

Sales of guns in Virginia reached nearly 480,000 in 2013, according to Virginia State Police numbers of mandatory criminal-background checks of gun buyers released Jan. 2.

"Gun transactions in Virginia totaled 479,253 for the year, a 10.8 percent increase over the previous record of 432,387 transactions in 2012," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

That is the highest yearly volume of firearm transactions since the inception of Virginia’s background check program on Nov. 1, 1989, according to State Police.

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