Gun sales expected to increase for Black Friday

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WMC/Gray News) - It turns out firearms are on many Black Friday Shopper’s list.

Guns are expected to be a hot item during the holiday shopping season.

“We’re stoked. We’re ready," said Monte Dabbs of Dabbs Gun and Pawn store.

Dabbs has high expectations for sales at his Southaven gun store this Friday.

“We're expecting it to be big. We're gearing up. We got extra people here,” said Dabbs.

Black Friday specials are already posted in the store, and for many gun buyers, they will have to fill out a background check.

“We call it in to the FBI, online and they give us a proceed, delay or denied,” said Dabbs.

The FBI has seen a surge in background checks to the tune of nearly 23 million so far this year.

Statistics show when mass shootings occur the agency sees an increase, numbers soared in August and September after the Walmart shootings in El Paso and Southaven.

The FBI doesn't track gun sales, but the National Instant Criminal Background check is a good way to gauge demand.

For the first time since 1998, when the FBI first began tracking background checks, the number of applications per month has not dropped below 2 million.

If Black Friday sales are as good as expected, it could break the record set in 2016 of 27.5 million background checks in a single year.

Read the original version of this article at wmcactionnews5.com.