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Record-breaking year for Virginia gun sales

Posted at 11:49 AM, Jan 03, 2014
and last updated 2014-01-03 11:49:29-05

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - It appears Virginia broke a gun sales record in 2013.

There were more than 479,000 gun transactions last year, according to the Virginia State Police Firearms Transaction Center. A gun transaction equals the number of times a background check was conducted by a licensed gun dealer at the time of a purchase.

The 479,000 transactions in 2013 were a 10 percent increase from 2012 and the most since the state started its background check program in 1989.

A transaction does not equal the number of guns sold at one time, state police said. The number also does not take into account if a would-be gun buyer was denied a purchase due to the background check.