Americans flocked to stores to buy guns on Black Friday, according to data provided by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) on Monday.
The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) completed 680,671 firearm background checks during the week of Black Friday, according to the organization. The FBI’s system executed 214,913 during the Black Friday holiday itself. Background checks for the week surrounding Black Friday in 2022 were slightly higher at 711,372. However, FBI background checks completed on Black Friday itself broke the previous record set in 2017 by over 11,000.
“The background checks reported by the FBI are in keeping with the trends NSSF has seen throughout the year. Firearm sales remain consistently strong, with over a million per month for more than four years running,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. “These figures tell us that there is a continued strong appetite for lawful firearm ownership by law-abiding Americans and that firearm manufacturers across the country continue to deliver the quality firearms our customers have come to expect.”
Black Friday saw almost 215,000 FBI checks. That’s up 5.5% from the previous record set back in 2017. So, it’s another small, but potentially significant sign, the gun market has found its post-2020 sales floor. And it’s well above pre-2020 levels. https://t.co/RxBkW05S4a
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) November 28, 2023
The NSSF noted that it worked with retailers to evenly distribute sales throughout the week of Black Friday as to not overburden the FBI’s NICS. Shocking the NICS with a deluge of background check requests could result in excessive wait times, according to the NSSF..
The NICS background check numbers provide a good estimate the number of firearm sales within the Black Friday period, though these figures include background checks initiated for other reasons, such as concealed carry permit applications.
Gun sales have surged in recent years as a response to multiple factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots and a general uptick in concern about violent crime.