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Guns Didn’t Have a Record Black Friday
FBI data show background checks fell on the day after Thanksgiving compared to last year.
A shopper browses handheld firearms for sale inside a Bass Pro store on Black Friday in Tampa, Florida, on Nov. 23, 2018.
Photographer: Eve Edelheit/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
There may be fewer guns under the Christmas tree this holiday season as firearms background checks fell on Black Friday after setting a single-day record last year.
The FBI said checks were down more than 10 percent on Black Friday this year. There is no exact count of firearms sold in America, but a common barometer is the bureau’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. There were 182,093 firearms checks on the annual shopping day, as compared to 203,086 in 2017.