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November 29, 2021

Background Checks Top 687,000 During Black Friday ‘Week’


NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the firearm industry trade association, revealed that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) processed 687,788 background checks during the week leading up to and including Black Friday. FBI’s NICS recorded 187,585 on Black Friday alone, ranking it among the Top 10 Highest Days for NICS checks and a .50 percent increase from Black Friday 2020 (186,645). The NICS checks are unadjusted, representing raw data from the FBI and are inclusive of all background checks related to firearms.

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 Black Friday which can result in longer than normal wait times.

“This figure of over 687,000 background checks is truly remarkable,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. “This year has already been shaping up to be the second strongest year for firearm sales on record, second only to 2020’s record-breaking number of 21 million background checks for a firearm sale. We anticipate, based on annual data, that firearm sales will rise during the final month of the year coinciding with hunting seasons and holiday sales. This figure, though, underscores the appetite for lawful firearm ownership in America and the resilience of the firearm and ammunition industry to meet that demand.”

Below are the breakout tables for each day of unadjusted FBI NICS background checks and The Top 10 Highest Days of FBI Background Checks.

Saturday, November 20, 2021 101,057
Sunday, November 21, 2021 58,059
Monday, November 22, 2021 96,696
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 105,815
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 112,484
Thursday, November 25, 2021 26,092
Friday, November 26, 2021 187,585
Grand Total 687,788

 Source: FBI

Background Checks Top 10 highest Days

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About NSSF
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.

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Media contact:
Mark Oliva
203-426-1320 ext. 204

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