Black Friday firearms sales set new record high

The FBI has reported that it fielded 203,086 background check requests for gun purchases on the day after Thanksgiving — the highest daily total ever.

The number of guns sold on Black Friday is not an exact correlation to background checks, because some states, including Ohio, conduct NICS checks when issuing concealed handgun licenses. In addition, a person would only have one background check but could buy multiple firearms during one purchase.

Last year, 185,713 background checks occurred on Black Friday, and 185,345 were conducted in 2015 - also record-setting days at the time they occurred.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.