Black Friday FBI Gun Checks Drop, Still Fourth Highest on Record

There was an 8% drop in the number of FBI criminal background checks regarding firearms sales on Black Friday from a year ago, but the more than 186,0000 was still the fourth-highest number of one-day requests on record.

The Friday after Thanksgiving typically sees large numbers of FBI checks, USA Today reported, occupying half of the top 10 one-day requests, but the 186,645 processed last Friday was fewer than the 202,465 in 2019.

It comes in a year of unprecedented numbers of FBI checks and guns sales.

The FBI said through October it had processed more than 32 million requests, 4 million more than the previous record with two months remaining.

Additionally, analysis firm Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting said in late October a record of nearly 17 million firearms had been sold in the United States this year. The previous record was eclipsed in August.

FBI background checks have neared or exceeded 3 million per month since February, which coincided with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, and reached a high point of nearly 4 million in June following widespread riots and protests after the death of a Black man in policy custody in Minneapolis.

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