Black Friday may have been the best Black Friday ever for gun sales, according to numbers released by the FBI.
As we all know, the FBI doesn’t really track gun sales, but the number of background checks that occur on a given day via its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
While NICS is an imperfect way to track gun sales, as not every background check conducted results in the purchase of a firearm, for example, background checks are processed during the issuance of a concealed carry permit not to mention the fact that not every firearm transfer requires a background check (sales between private buyers, sellers), it is nonetheless a pretty reliable way to gauge commerce within the gun industry.
By the numbers there were a record-setting 175,000 background checks, which translates to about three background checks per second.
That eye-popping figure is the second highest on record, falling behind the 177,000-plus background checks that were recorded on Dec. 21, 2012, the Friday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
“Traditionally, Black Friday is one of our busiest days for transaction volume,” FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer told CNN. Fischer talked about how the agency has a dedicated staff of 600 workers to take on the load, many of whom work 17-hour days to complete the checks in the three day window required by law.
“We are averaging three checks per second,” Fischer said Friday afternoon. “The challenge is to have staff keep up with this volume. We do that by limiting personal leave, asking employees to work extra shifts and reutilizing former … employees to serve in NICS during this busy period.”
In 2013, the FBI processed more than 21 million background checks. Of those, about 1.1 percent were denied, meaning the prospective purchaser had an issue that prevented him/her from possessing the firearm.
One is not allowed to purchase a firearm if one is a prohibited person, i.e. one has a felony conviction, arrest warrant, documented drug problem, mental illness, undocumented immigration status, dishonorable military discharge, renunciation of U.S. citizenship, restraining order, history of domestic violence or indictment for any crime punishable by longer than one year of prison.
Overall, it appears that 2014 is shaping up to be a good year for the gun industry. Perhaps not as good as 2013, when fears over new federal gun-control legislation sent shoppers into a frenzy, but still better than years past. Currently, supply of product is still relatively high making it a buyer’s market so shoppers shouldn’t have a problem scoring good deals on guns this holiday season.
Russ, you are absolutely correct. December 21st 2012 was less than a month after obama won his re election bid. His statement after the Sandy Hook School outrage, only convinced the people that their Second Amendment rights were put in jeopardy once again. obama didn’t dare take about the Second Amendment during his first term because he wanted to be
re elected in 2012.
Every time a crazy uses a gun to commit a mass murder, the anti-gun faction jumps in to attack a particular inherent right inscribed into the Bill of Rights. But one shouldn’t be surprised by the “leadership” of a Marxist who lacks an American ethos. He lacks an American ethos because he’s not an American.
By the way, why does obama continue to make his claimed Record of Live Birth in the Department of Health at Honolulu, Hawaii, a state secret? It can’t be for privacy reasons because that amateurish digital birth certificate copy is supposed to be a copy of that same “Record of Live Birth”. Why would the Democrat controlled state of Hawaii prevent a forensics team of historical document experts from conducting a non-destructive exam of a document that is supposed to have been in a journal log since August of 1961? Yup, Hawaii mounted a determined defense against a law suit by a citizen seeking to establish the citizenship of the Indonesian in the Oval Office.
The case was dismissed on the grounds that the American citizen “had no standing” in seeking an exam of obama’s original birth record. The Democrat appointed judges decided that American citizens can not satisfy themselves that obama has met the requirement of Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution of the United States. You know, the one that requires a person to be an American citizen in order to run for the office of the Presidency.
A book by another Chicago community organizer, Saul Alinsky, is the blueprint that obama follows to the letter. Socialists of a feather, so to speak.
Well, you can’t say Barack Hussein hasn’t boosted the economy now, can you?
Sad.