FBI Black Friday Gun Background Checks Fell 10 Percent From 2017
FIREARMS
Coming in at the lowest level since 2014.
Jim Young/REUTERS
The number of FBI background checks for guns dropped 10 percent this Black Friday compared to 2017, marking the lowest level since 2014, according to USA Today. There were 182,093 FBI checks for firearms on America’s busiest shopping day this year, compared to 2017’s record-setting 203,086 requests. That dramatic upswing came in the wake of mass shootings in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, which claimed 58 and 25 lives, respectively. The FBI ran 185,713 checks in 2016 and 185,345 in 2015, according to USA Today. These background checks do not reflect total gun sales, however. While all federally licensed gun stores must submit information to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check, applicants can by multiple guns during one transaction, the newspaper notes. Despite the decline, this Black Friday marked the fourth highest day for checks, just over the number of requests days after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
