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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AGAIN! It must be said: THERE ARE NO (AS IN NONE, ZIP, ZILCH) assault guns for legal sale in the U.S.A. They were outlawed in 1935. (Assault gun being one with a selective mode of fire, typically: 1-single shot, 2-3 shot burst and 3-fully automatic fire.) When will boobs like Obama, Feinstein, Brady, et. al., get this through their thick num-skulls? A gun that is Black fibreglass stock or plastic finish is not an assault weapon. It is just a different style of stocking any weapon.
If you do not like guns, do not get one (or more). Otherwise leave us alone. Or are you looking for another revolutionary war?
One question that EVERYONE needs to ask themself...."How many times are guns used to save lives???". Until you know the answer to that question then you should not even have a opinion on this ...the answer to this question is very hard to answer as many times people never report this and you can dam well be sure that the media will not report on this...My gun has saved my life and the lives of others several times in my life and I don’t leave home without a gun and I risk going to prison every time I do it but I will never leave myself/family/friends/others in a spot where some nut job can make a victim out of me without a fighting chance. When i was 19 a young gal and myself were walking out of a Hollywood club and 5 drunk dudes cornered us in a parking lot and told me they were going to kill my white a$$ and rape my bitch...I ran to the car got my gun and they ran off...the girl I was dating was the biggest anti-gun person ever and I never told her i carried guns (Could not carry into the club so I had to leave it in the car)...in shock she told me "That f^&kin gun saved our lives"...we are still friends and she is still a huge liberal but she has a gun herself now...I don’t worry about the govt taking guns away (They won’t and they can’t as people like me will die over the right to own a gun and protect myself/family)..I worry about natural disaster living in LA (Earthquakes and there are over 100,000 gang members in LA) or economic collapse...when the wrong people know that the cops can’t respond and you are own you better hope there is someone like me around to at least put up a fight for us (Not saying I will win or I am a tough guy but all -be-dammed if I just sit there and be a victim or watch someone else be a victim)….I am not talking about “Stuff” either…I would not shoot someone over a material possession…but you threaten to hurt me and POP!
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[BRIEFING.COM] Equities ended on their lows with the S&P 500 down 1.4%.
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