Gun sales see record Black Friday

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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