Sales of firearms, led by handguns, broke the previous Black Friday record last week, a continuation of the nation’s backlash to growing violent crime and liberal calls for gun grabs.
The FBI said it completed 214,913 background checks on Friday, up over 11,000, or 5.5%, from the previous record set in 2017.
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“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,” National Shooting Sports Foundation President Joe Bartozzi said.
Background checks closely follow gun purchases, though they are also done for security checks. The industry group said it would determine its more accurate estimate of gun sales for the week of Black Friday later this week.
With more than half of the public now living in households with guns, some have expected sales to slow. But concerns about crime and President Joe Biden’s demand for gun control and gun bans apparently sparked sales.
NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva told Secrets that self-defense is a driving force, not just preservation of Second Amendment rights.
“It can’t be denied that concerns for personal safety continue to drive the concern of many gun buyers today,” he said. “We saw that as the leading reason for firearm purchases during the violence and increased crime of 2020 and 2021. Crime rates are still elevated, and there are continued talks by city officials in several metro areas to reduce police forces. Washington, D.C., just recorded 250 murders for the year, a 34% increase over last year and the highest murder rate in two decades.”
Washington, like other cities, has seen a surge in violent crimes, such as carjackings, and many of the crimes are being committed by teenagers.
The city has taken little action to stop the crime wave. Washington’s mayor is in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week for climate talks.
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Oliva said people are not waiting for government officials to protect them.
“Over half the firearm sales in any given year are handguns,” he said. “Those purchases tell us exactly why people are buying those firearms. Handguns are used for personal safety and recreational shooting. With rare exception, handguns are not used for hunting.”
