“Black Friday” is the term given to the day after Thanksgiving when retailers hope millions of holiday shoppers will turn their year from red ink to black.
Image Credit: Kelly McCarthy
It seems that many of these shoppers, instead of pushing and shoving for the latest cheap TV or must-have toy, went down to the gun shop.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 185,713 transactions, surpassing the previous single-day record set on Black Friday 2015, said FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer. The previous record was 185,345 checks in one day.
The background checks are conducted through the NICS system for gun purchases from federal firearms licensees and for permits to carry guns. Although each check does not equate to a purchase, the data serve as an indicator of gun sale trends in the U.S.
The new record comes as a shock to many who assumed the uptick in gun background checks over the past few months was a reaction to a presumed Presidential victory by anti-gun Hillary Clinton.
Background checks were up before the Nov. 8 presidential election, and advocacy groups attributed the uptick to fear that Democrat Hillary Clinton would win and pursue gun control initiatives.
But with this year’s surge in checks on the traditional biggest shopping day of the year, the surprise win by Republican Donald Trump — who has said he is in favor of empowering gun owners to defend themselves — appears not to have tempered buyers’ appetites.
Perhaps Trump’s unlikely triumph has caused many of his political enemies to reassess their stand on the 2nd Amendment. Many of them are not averse to violence as a political tool.