It's Sickening How Many Guns Were Sold on Black Friday

[babylonsister]

It’s Sickening How Many Guns Were Sold on Black Friday
LIFE IS CHEAP
Somehow, 600-plus mass shootings this year have not dampened the nation’s thirst for deadly weapons.
Michael Daly
Special Correspondent
Updated Nov. 29, 2022 3:56AM ET / Published Nov. 28, 2022 11:19PM ET 


By the time Thanksgiving rolled around this year, the nation had witnessed 609 mass shootings but had not lost its appetite for guns. Data obtained by The Daily Beast reveals that more Americans tried to buy firearms on Black Friday than they did last year.

In just the 13 days leading up to the annual post-Thanksgiving shopping orgy, there had been enough gun violence to weary any sane county. Three dead and two wounded at the University of Virginia. Five dead and 17 shot at a gay nightclub in Colorado. Six dead at a Virginia Walmart, including a 16-year-old new hire who had spent his first paycheck on a present for his mother.

But come Friday, Americans flocked to buy guns just as they did for Apple AirPods and Revlon One Step hair dryers. The FBI said that its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) conducted 192,749 background checks—up from 187,585 last year and dispiritingly close to the record of 203,086 set in 2017.

Over the rest of the long holiday weekend, there were six more mass shootings, which are defined as involving four or more victims. This brought the year’s total up to 615 as tallied by the National Gun Violence Archive. One was sparked around 8 p.m. Saturday by a dispute among two groups of teenagers who had been escorted from the Atlantic Station shopping center in Atlanta which began requiring juveniles to be accompanied by an adult after two shootings in October.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-sickening-how-many-guns-were-sold-on-black-friday?ref=home

[GenXer47]

1. if you do the math

at this rate by the time a current preschooler graduates high school, we will have well over a billion guns in America. They don't wear out like a pair of shoes. They just accumulate. Ask a gun owner, what are their plans for these guns, when they die?

[Amishman]

5. BiL has over 200 guns, I've had that conversation with him

He has a spreadsheet as part of his will; detailing which guns he wants to go to specific people, which he wants to go to a museum (they are museum quality historical guns), the rest he says are to be offered up to any friends or family who want them. Not sure what he said about those that no one wants.

[MissMillie]

2. yeah, nothing say's "Happy Holidays" like an instrument of death. (n/t)

.

[jimfields33]

3. Yeah my cousin got a BB gun one year.

I was like what a boring gift. Lol. I was glad Santa didn’t give me one. Life wasn’t so crazy back then (early 80’s). But knew I wouldn’t be interested in that for a gift.

[Lovie777]

4. Unfortunately .......

with all the hatred and violence towards POC, LGBTQ, Jews, and any one who oppose a certain group, yes, I can see it.

Generally, people are afraid. Hell, you just don't know when a psycho will target a group of people who are basically going about their daily chores. People are arming themselves to protect their families. Police can't be everywhere.

This is what the GQP/RWers/white nationalists, kkk, nazis have accomplished, FEAR.

[Arthur_Frain]

6. My better half insists on getting the Thanksgiving day paper.

To set her up for her Black Friday bargain excursion. It’s a tradition after all our time together, and though I’ve never been a Black Friday proponent myself, I don’t discourage her, as there never used to be all that much harm in it.

So while I don’t buy, I do thumb through the circulars occasionally. I guess I must not have for a few years, because guns were about 75% of the specials. Especially Sportsman’s Warehouse, like a ten page circular for firearms with an enclosure that has maybe a page and a half of other stuff.

And the Elks club, the local boosters, how do they make money? What do they want to sell you a raffle ticket for? Guns!!! And when you decline to buy a raffle ticket, they look at you like you’re some kind of weak reed. It truly is an illness, and once set in, there does not seem to be any exit.

Here in the states it’s kind of like a really stupid “king of the hill/dies with the most toys wins” game, with an infinite supply of guns and ammunition assuring eternal damnation.

[Fla_Democrat]

7. I'm just waiting for people to realize.....

I'm just waiting for people to realize that number is off by (IMHO) 25-45%.


NICS is a point of sale event. It doesn't take into account orders from online retailers, because those checks won't be run until the FFL makes the transfer.

It doesn't take into account multiple items being bought in the same transaction. This summer, I had ordered a lever action .22. Academy had informed me that it was in, and while waiting, I saw a nifty Wrangler in the case. Two 4473's, one NICS. (funny story about that, but I doubt anyone here wants to hear it. )

With the be prices I saw advertised, I imagine there was a lot of both online (PSA had some good deals) and multiple items sales at the LGS.

[EX500rider]

8. Not to mention private sale where no NICS check is done. nt