(lukeurbine photo / Shutterstock)
November 29, 2022
By Mark Chesnut
Following the recent midterm election in which the gun-ban party retained control of the U.S. Senate, American gun buyers turned out in near-record numbers on Black Friday.
According to FBI statistics reported by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS) recorded 192,749 background checks on Black Friday alone, ranking it third in the Top 10 highest days for NICS checks since records have been kept.
“Background checks for firearm purchases were already trending to make 2022 the third strongest year on record, coming off of the outsized years of 2020 and 2021,” Joe Bartozzid, NSSF President and CEO, said in a news release. “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.”
The Black Friday sales total was a 2.8 percent increase from Black Friday 2021, when 187,585 background checks were completed. For the week leading up to and including Black Friday this year, 711,372 background checks were completed for the retail purchase of a firearm.
This year’s Black Friday sales also topped sales on that day during the record-setting gun sales year of 2020. The highest Black Friday for guns sales was in 2017 with 203,086 background checks completed for the sale of guns at the retail level. That total barely eclipsed the 2019 total of 202,465.
The NICS checks are unadjusted, representing raw data from the FBI and are inclusive of all background checks related to firearms. It should be noted that these statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold or sales dollars. Based on varying state laws, local market conditions and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.
Interestingly, during the week preceding and including Black Friday this year, five of the seven days saw more than 100,000 background checks conducted. That could be an indication that gun owners who failed to vote at the ballot box are now casting their votes with their checkbooks.
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About the Author Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for over 20 years.
