The Patriot Post® · Black Friday a Boom for Firearm Merchants

To refresh your memory, recall that October was an impressive month for firearm merchants. The FBI registered 17,584,346 background checks — a new record for the month. November’s total has yet to be released, but if Black Friday sales are any indication, the historic streak should continue. According to information obtained by USA Today, the FBI recorded 185,345 background checks last Friday — a new daily record. Stephen Fischer, the agency’s multimedia productions chief, says, “This was an approximate 5% increase over the 175,754 received on Black Friday 2014. The previous high for receipts were the 177,170 received on 12/21/2012.” The Washington Post accurately points out, “Notable spikes in such checks, processed through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), are often seen on Black Friday, near Christmas and after mass shootings.” But the sentence immediately beforehand claims “it’s not clear what caused the increase in firearm background checks” this year. Talk about missing the forest for the trees. Blame (or credit!) for increased gun sales falls on Obama’s ever-more-heated anti-gun rhetoric, the latest round of which came on Saturday in comments on the Colorado Planned Parenthood attack: “[W]e have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them.” And that’s why new records aren’t just unsurprising, but expected. And what better way to show your love for liberty than to purchase a little black powder on Black Friday?