Gun Sales Soar On Black Friday
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Black Friday was a good day for retailers, but it may be surprising what items topped the list of sales for some businesses. Apparently guns are the season’s new flat screen TVs. “It was much busier this year than it was last year,” said Brandon Griggs, owner of Direct Hit Guns & Ammo. “Probably about twice as busy I’d say.” According to the FBI, nationwide it ran nearly 130,000 background checks for prospective gun buyers this Black Friday. Here in Tennessee, the TBI said it ran almost 4,900 checks. That is more than 1,500 more background checks than last year. Why so many more gun buyers? “Maybe the economy is getting better, or maybe people are just ready to start spending money again,” Griggs said. He told 7 Eyewitness News a lot of his new customers are buying guns for self-defense. “More women are buying guns these days, primarily for self-defense reasons and there’s just a lot more crime out there I think, or they’re noticing it more and want to be prepared,” Griggs said. A lot of Grigg’s customers are buying guns for the first time and want to take the hand gun carry permit classes offered in the area. He said now through April are his busiest months, because some people like to wait to buy guns until after they file their tax returns.
