Americans bought firearms in vast numbers this Black Friday as background checks were up 11% from the year before.
The FBI ran 202,465 background checks on Friday Nov. 29, 2019 — the second-highest number in one day on record, Fox Business News reported Monday. The busiest day of background checks was Black Friday 2017 when the bureau processed the names of 203,086 people.
Kiley Russell (L) speaks to salesman Jason Zielinski as she she gets information about buying a gun before taking her concealed carry certification test at the Eagle Sports gun range in Oak Forest, Illinois, July 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JIM YOUNG / With AFP Story by Nova SAFO: A gun club for Chicago women concerned about violence (Photo credit should read JIM YOUNG/AFP/Getty Images)
Background checks are good means of ascertaining how many firearms Americans are buying — even though every background check doesn’t necessarily equate to a gun being sold since the process can sometimes involve a secondary assessment on an existing gun owner. (RELATED: Republicans Introduce Bill To Modernize Gun Sales)
Mark Oliva, public affairs director for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told Fox Business that background checks are the best indicator of gun sales.
“This tells us Americans are voting with their wallets when it comes to their ability to exercise Second Amendment rights. Interestingly, Americans are turning out to buy the firearms they want in increasing numbers even as politicians on the national stage and in some states are increasingly vocal on restricting Second Amendment rights.”
Oliva told Fox that most Americans are not buying firearms on impulse but view the purchase as a “significant investment.”
Gun enthusiasts attend the South Florida Gun Show at Dade County Youth Fairgrounds in Miami, Florida, on Feb. 17, 2018.
(Photo credit MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images)
“Americans are choosing to invest their hard-earned dollars in their ability [to] exercise their rights and buy the firearms they want before gun control politicians attempt to regulate away that ability,” Oliva said. (RELATED: “Universal” Background Checks Aren’t Universally Popular)
Fox Business noted that about U.S. citizens bought 1.2 million firearms in October 2019, a 10.8 % increase from the year before. The previous month also saw a jump of 11% from 2018, indicating an overall increase in gun sales.
Many Democratic presidential candidates are advocating increasingly radical gun control options, including mandatory buybacks of some firearms.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System indicated that the federal police service processed 2.4 million background checks in October 2019 — the most ever recorded for that month of the year.