It turned out that not only gadgets were being sought after for the Black Friday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that there were more than 200,000 background checks for gun purchase requested from the agency.
The bureau reported that they received approximately 203,086 requests, another record-breaker from the previous high of 185,713 in Black Friday 2016. In the year before that, background check requests for gun purchases totaled 185,345. These checks are required for anyone who wants to purchase a gun from licensed dealers.
The staggering number came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered on Wednesday that the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) take a closer look at the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which was circumvented by the deadly Texas mass shooting suspect Devin Kelley. Kelley staged a mass shooting on Nov. 5, killing at least 25 at a church in Sutherland Springs in Wilson County.
Kelley, who had served the Air Force, was allowed to purchase a rifle after Air Force officials had failed to furnish FBI with his court-martial, therefore granting Kelley the right to buy the firearms which he had used in the shooting. FBI could have blocked Kelley's purchase had the information reached them.
Air Force was slammed for this, as the FBI had little knowledge of his wrongdoings, which include his arrest for domestic abuse and his 2012 escape from a behavioral health facility in New Mexico.
Meanwhile, former assistant FBI director Stephen Morris revealed that the system was indeed in need of a long-overdue review as it contains outdated or incomplete information. As was the case, FBI officials must know whether a person is eligible for a gun purchase within the three-day period for each check.
