What goes up, as they say, must come down. The FBI reported a record 203,086 NICS on Black Friday 2017. This year’s total of 182,093 represents a drop of 10%. While not a perfect indicator, NICS checks are a good thumbnail picture of gun sales volume.
As the McPaper reports . . .
This year’s numbers would make it the fourth highest day for background checks, slightly higher than the number of checks done in the days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.
The FBI told USA TODAY its peak hour for background checks this year was between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. where there were about 4.76 transactions per second and more than 17,000 requests poured in.
That roughly tracks with the year-to-date decline in NICS checks versus 2017. It’s also possible that with Black Friday sales starting as much as two weeks before the actual day this year, the purchases are distributed over more of the month now rather being concentrated on the day after Thanksgiving.
What did you buy this Black Friday (or thereabouts) and when did you buy it?