gun store counter
Store owner Bren Brown, stands with a display of handguns at Frontier Justice in Lee's Summit, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

From the NSSF . . .

NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, revealed that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) completed 680,671 background checks related to firearms for the week leading up to, and including, “Black Friday,” one of the busiest shopping days of the year. That figure is down slightly from 2022’s total of 711,372 for the same time period. The 2023 total is a 4.3 percent decrease from the 2022 figure.

FBI NICS completed 214,913 background checks on “Black Friday” alone. That is the highest figure recorded for a “Black Friday.” The figure approximates firearm sales at retail on that day, although it also includes background checks for other purposes related to firearms such as approvals for concealed carry permits. NSSF will later this week release its Adjusted NICS figures for November reflecting only those background checks related to the sale of a firearm at retail.

NSSF has worked with firearm retailers to spread out special sales offers to customers throughout the week leading up to “Black Friday” so as not to overwhelm FBI NICS on a single day, which can result in longer than normal wait times.

“The background checks reported by the FBI are in keeping with the trends NSSF has seen throughout the year. Firearm sales remain consistently strong, with over a million per month for more than four years running,” explained Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. “These figures tell us that there is a continued strong appetite for lawful firearm ownership by law-abiding Americans and that firearm manufacturers across the country continue to deliver the quality firearms our customers have come to expect.”

Annual background check data shows that firearm sales will typically rise during the final months of the year coinciding with hunting seasons and holiday sales.

Below are the breakout tables for each day of unadjusted FBI NICS background checks.

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023: 95,354
Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023: 52,521
Monday, Nov. 20, 2023: 79,970
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023: 101,199
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023: 110,703
Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023: 26,011
Friday, Nov. 24, 2023: 214,913

32 COMMENTS

  1. “The figure approximates firearm sales at retail on that day…”

    Does that include people like me who ordered a firearm online on Black Friday that has not shipped yet?

    • It does if your background check was made during Black Friday.

      That’s 10,000+ guns per state. Store clerks must be exhausted.

        • Unless you have an FFL, your background check will be done at the FFL whoever you bought it from shipped it to you locally…

        • Right, the part I was confused about was the way it was written here: “approximates firearm sales at retail on that day”, and I take that to mean approximating sales with background checks because it’s not always a 1-to-1 thing.

          But since the sentence only said sales, I didn’t know if that meant they counted ALL sales made that day (like mine) but that will have background checks later.

        • A more accurate term than “sales” would be “transfers” but the media and public don’t understand what transfers are.

    • Does not include purchase in Freer states such as Iowa where there is no new “Background check” as we can present a “permit to purchase” card for multiple purchases of any # of firearms. Just complete at paper 4673.

      I don’t know how many states have such a thing but in Iowa the NSSF # vastly undercount sales IE: ATF doesn’t know squat (obviously).

  2. Take a bow, miner49er. Without you this would not be possible.

    You fascist are too f&cking stupid to realize how much you’ve helped us out.

  3. It isnt tabulated until you pay for the weapon and undergo the background check. So, no.
    I’ll bet you were waiting with bated breath for that answer. Or, perhaps, “baited” would be more appropriate?

  4. Why should I maintain any sort of loyalty to a government that does not trust me to exercise a fundamental right that I and my forebears could exercise without restraint?

  5. A contact in Houston said that Collectors Firearms (a HUGE gun store that seems more like a museum, except that all the exhibits are for sale — worth a trip if you are in town) was open twelve hours on Black Friday, and there was a line of people processing 4473’s **all day**.

    People are figuring out that we’re on our own.

  6. These numbers are all well and good, but it’s too bad we can’t get a similar estimate of how many thugs, gangstas, spouse-beaters and other run-of-the-mill felons and ne’r-do-wells got a gun through the normal channels that they use on Black Friday. Leave the law-abiding alone…

    • They are uterrley baffled as to why nobody wants to buy the shit they are selling…

  7. At this time last year I purchased my last Aero .308 lower receiver from PA. All components are prepared and ready for assembly this winter, it is going to be a nice piece. At this point we have no need for another firearm which is kinda sad to say while at the same time it’s helping to deal with bidenomics. Of course the door is always open for a deal I cannot refuse.

    • Cash in the bank/stock market/under mattress is devaluing at ___% annually (pick your Obiden#/I say 8%). Firearms/ammo is not. Stock up as a protect asset investment.

  8. I really don’t need another firearm but, in the interests of my kid’s inheritance, yeah, one or two more is on the horizon.

    • This is pretty much where I am. I tell her (daughter) this, and she rolls her eyes. But I know that she really likes a couple of them.

  9. I really don’t need another firearm but, in the interests of my kid’s inheritance, yeah, one or two more are on the horizon.

  10. Send lawyers, guns, and money.

    We are coming up on the season finale of the USA series. Don’t miss it! spoilers ahead…

  11. The background check is for firearms (up to 10 on the one check) and tasers, concealed carry permits, and a few other checks. There is no way that I know of to count weapon sales – as up to 10 may be covered on the same 4473 and background check. The dealer DOES tell the agency (usually the state police runs it) the make, model, and serial number of each piece, so maybe they can tally that. But the description is for “background checks” and not what is in them.

  12. Hopefully, that number includes a large number of NEW legal gun owners exercising their Second Amendment Right ‘to Keep and Bear Arms’. God bless America!

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