I used NICS (FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System) checks instead of gun sales, because in all honesty the news is about NICS, and not gun sales per say. I don’t know, there could have been a number of firearms traded or bought used last Friday as well. But regardless, this very closely correlates to gun sales, and if that is so, then this years Black Friday sales seem to have made the record for the most gun sales ever conducted with the help of a NICS check (not private purchase, CMP, or gifting). I’ve read somewhere on the news that some companies or people were expecting up to 190,000, and that estimate was pretty close to the actual numbers of 185,345 checks that actually took place. This exceeded last years Black Friday NICS checks by around 10,000 checks/purchases at 175,174 and was higher than the previous record in 2012, at 177,170 checks.

From USAA-

More Americans had their backgrounds checked purchasing guns on Black Friday than any day in the on record, according to data released by the FBI this week.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 185,345 requests on Nov. 27, one of the largest retail sales days in the country.

“This was an approximate 5% increase over the 175,754 received on Black Friday 2014,” wrote Stephen Fischer, the FBI’s chief of multimedia productions. “The previous high for receipts were the 177,170 received on 12/21/2012.”

I’m interested into why this might have happened this year, instead of being another average year. I don’t think there was any political/law change that would have started this, there hasn’t been anything like the Sandy Hook AR scare in 2012 to have taken place. If anything, I’ve been hearing rumors around the internet that the Black Friday deals were not all that great compared to last years. Maybe companies and shops were just a little more effective at getting their products out this year. Tell us what you think.