Dive Brief:
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With gun violence in the news both in the U.S. and abroad, gun sales were up this past Black Friday, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it processed two background checks per second.
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The FBI ran 185,345 background checks that day, 5% more than Black Friday last year and a daily record.
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With some 40% of guns sold by unlicensed sellers, even more guns were likely bought and sold over the weekend, Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, told the New York Times.
Dive Insight:
Despite evidence that owning a firearm leads to more deadly gun violence, the New York Times reports, gun sales rise whenever there’s a mass shooting and when President Barack Obama calls for tightened gun control laws.
Overall though, Vernick said, fear of violence is the main driver of gun sales, and November had a number of incidents, in Paris and in the U.S., that helped stoke fear that everyday gun assaults are likely. Many consumers buy into the idea that gun ownership is good protection, despite data to the contrary, he said.
The uptick comes as guns sales overall have fallen thereby hitting the bottom lines of retailers like Cabela’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse.
