Black Friday background checks for gun sales decline

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — After posting two consecutive record-shattering Black Fridays, the number of background check requests submitted by gun dealers to the FBI on behalf of prospective firearms buyers declined this year, according to FBI records.

The FBI processed 144,758 mandatory background checks Friday, representing a 6.5% decline from the number processed on the same day last year when the bureau's computers were briefly overwhelmed by the unprecedented volume.

The FBI does not track actual gun sales, as multiple firearms can be included in one background check transaction. But background checks are viewed as an indicator of firearm sales.

Sales of both guns and ammunition had rocketed in the past two Christmas shopping seasons amid fears that the Obama administration would impose stricter gun laws. The administration did seek more restrictive measures in the aftermath of last December's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Some of the most controversial measures, among them a proposal for requiring background checks on all gun sales, including those at gun shows, failed.

"What you are starting to see is a moderation in demand," National Shooting Sports Association spokesman Larry Keane said Monday. "After the (presidential election) and the tragedy at Sandy Hook, demand was unprecedented.''

Keane, whose group is the trade association for the firearms industry, said that although the "sales peak has crested,'' this year's Black Friday number of background checks is still ranked as the sixth-highest one-day total in the 15-year history of the FBI's National Instant Check System.

David Chipman, a retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who supports gun control efforts, said Monday that many firearms buyers in the past two years were "acting out of fear'' that they would be denied access to some models of firearms and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

"The market for guns is really no different than some concert tickets,'' Chipman said. "People buy them up because they believe that at some point they will become scarce and the value will go up.''