The FBI conducted a record number of National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks on November 24, Black Friday 2023.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) noted the FBI conducted 214,913 NICS checks on Black Friday, easily surpassing the 192,749 NICS checks conducted on Black Friday 2022.
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Breitbart News reported the FBI conducted 187,585 NICS checks on Black Friday 2021 and 186,645 checks on Black Friday 2020.
The NSSF indicated that “680,671 (NICS) background checks related to firearms” were conducted during the week of Black Friday in its entirety.
The 214,913 NICS checks conducted on Black Friday do not translate into a precise number of guns sold, as background checks are conducted on the buyer of firearms rather than the firearms themselves. And a would-be purchaser who passes a background check can then buy multiple guns.
This means the 214,913 NICS checks could mean 214,913 guns were sold on Black Friday or, if every buyer bought two firearms, it could mean that 429,826 guns were sold.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
