Gun sales see record Black Friday
Buyers swamped dealers, causing the FBI center that handles background checks to crash twice.
Was there something in this year's turkeys that made folks want to buy a gun?The day after Thanksgiving saw a record number of background-check requests from gun dealers. The calls came in so fast and furious, in fact, that the FBI centers that handle the requests crashed twice that day, USA Today reports.
Though accurate gun sales numbers are hard to come by, the overwhelming activity suggests that Black Friday was one for the record books for the firearm industry.
The FBI thought it was prepared for the day, particularly after hitting its previous one-day record on Black Friday 2011. That day, the bureau's call center took 129,166 requests.
But this year, the bureau took 154,873 calls, or about a 20% increase. You can't equate that to number of guns sold, however. The buyer may have decided against a purchase at the last minute. Or the buyer might have picked up more than one gun.
What was the reason for the new sales? Observers point to three areas. First, President Obama's re-election may be spurring fears of a new crackdown on guns. Obama hasn't exactly done much in this area -- in fact he signed a law in his first term allowing loaded guns in national parks -- but he did suggest in one of the presidential debates that he was in favor of reintroducing an assault weapons ban.
Another reason is a growing interest in guns on the part of women. The National Rifle Association says that women are its fastest-growing membership group. A final reason is that hunting and other shooting sports are gaining in popularity. MSN Money's Bruce Kennedy reported Wednesday that there was a 9% increase in hunters last year compared with 2006.
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I havw quite a lot of time, effort, and money tied up in my collection of firearms and accessories. I'm proud to live in a state that allows me to own suppressors and automatic weapons. They sit in the safe waiting for me to them take hunting, to the range, or to competitive shoots, They don't promote anything but a hobby I happen to enjoy as a free American.
we vote for the comgressmen and Senators because they share our thoughts and wants. they tell us they will support us once they are elected, but as soon as the results are in they say "oh the people dont know what they want" now, only the day before, they were agreeing with us about being able to own guns and not have our rights walked all over. WE VOTED FOR YOU because you promised to VOTE THE WAY WE TELL YOU TOO. not so you can do some backroom deal and sell OUR VOTE !
DO WHAT WE VOTED YOU INTO THAT POSITION FOR ! and stop trying to sell us down the river.
Americans are not stupid. America is expecting economic collapse, and is arming itself for that reason alone. This is why gold is $1725/oz and silver 34.25/oz. People are stocking up on food, guns, ammo, specie. We are expecting socialist economic collapse. People are preparing to DEFEND themselves against the leech class.
I suggest you do the same. No harm can come from being prepared. I suggest INVESTING overseas. We have a socialist worse than Hitler in office now. He want to steal from the jews, err, rich and give to his supporters. People can see what happened in Cuba and Venezuela. People see how poor those in the old USSR became, and how many that didn't believe in socialismwere terminated.
So I ask you again, WHY is America arming itself? Do we fear outside invasion? LOL! No, we FEAR socialism.
Here is another comment for the natural blonde. I am a two tour Vietnam veteran and I have defended myself plenty of times with my fist, but people get old. God made big men, small men, old men and women, but Smith and Wesson made the equalizer. If you really think your husband is going to defend himself against a carjacker with his fists, then you need to go for a drug test. You should think before you type and call people names because you don't agree with them. I agree with Openminded81, it does make you appear ignorant. By the way, show us the data to support your statement that trained police officers miss their target 50% to 80% of the time. I am pretty sure police officers would disagree.
One other point of interest, the WRONG people don't buy guns the RIGHT way, they do it illegally.
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[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 ended this week with a bang, roaring to a new all-time high on the back of stronger-than-expected economic data, influential leadership, and an ongoing appreciation for the Fed's monetary policy support.
The bullish bias was evident in premarket action as the S&P futures pointed to a higher start without the benefit of any definitive news catalyst. Stocks indeed benefited from a blast of buying interest at the opening bell on this ... More
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All hail the bull market, which ended the week with a big rally. But it also is starting to look a little like 1987, which suffered an epic blow-out.
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