KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Safety may be the reason the FBI was flooded with more than 203,000 requests for background checks on gun purchases during Black Friday.
That beat the single day record from 2016 when 187,000 requests came in.
"There was nothing really pushing it and that's the thing that really surprised us. And we found out a lot of it was strictly price," Don Pind, an instructor at Show Me Shooters in the Northland, said.
A spokesperson with the ATF said folks wanting protection as violent crime numbers go up could have contributed.
Pind says in the past the numbers spiked drastically during the Obama Administration when there were fears of gun bans. Pind says that "fear factor" isn't present now as much.
Kansas and Missouri had much higher numbers for background checks in 2016, but there was still an influx at metro gun shops over back Friday.
It might just boil down to the time of year.
"It seems like there were more people shopping, and had a little extra money that they could buy something more expensive," Pind said.
The national record was set just after Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the FBI and ATF to review the National Instant Criminal Background Check System amid the latest shooting massacre in Texas.
Sessions said the review will help ensure guns don't get into the wrong hands.
Only federally licensed dealers, like Show Me Shooters, require background checks.
The ATF says while there is no firearm registration in Kansas, Missouri or Nationally, a paper trail can give investigators a place to start if the firearm is ever lost or stolen.
However, there are several loopholes people exploit across the country.
"We have a lot of people that come in and bought a gun knowing they're going to take it downtown to sell it for two or three times what they paid for to somebody that can't possess it," Pind says.
That's called a straw sale, one of the loopholes the ATF warns of. Private sales and gun shows can also be a way for someone who can't pass a background check to buy a gun.
Pind says he wishes the background check system was more efficient.
"I wish they were a little faster. We found that Friday and Saturday we were getting a lot of delays," Pind said.
The ATF says if someone receives a firearm as a gift, always record the make, model and serial number and keep that information in a safe place away from the firearm so that it can be given to law enforcement if the gun is ever stolen.
