“Star Wars” toys, television sets, and game consoles weren’t the only big sellers this Black Friday. Americans also loaded up on a record number of guns.
The FBI processed 185,345 of firearm background checks on Black Friday—marking an all-time single-day high, as the Associated Press reported.
The record cements the thinking that this could be the biggest year ever for US gun sales, which were already up 4% for the year as of October.
The previous record for the most background checks in a single day was on Dec. 21, 2012—roughly a week after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School—when 177,170 background checks were processed.
In the US, federal background checks are considered strong indicators of gun sales because federally licensed dealers are required to run checks on prospective buyers before every firearm sale.
But there are loopholes that allow buyers to bypass background checks. In most states, for example, you don’t need a background check to purchase a gun from a private seller at a gun show.