By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI is on track to break the record for the most gun background checks in a single year.
The surge in background checks follows highly publicized mass shootings, with some of the largest increases coming in August and September, USA Today reports.
Firearms experts said gun sales traditionally rise amid fears of tightened gun laws.
“People respond to what they perceive as threats to their (Second Amendment) rights, and this has been going on since August,” Larry Keane, general counsel for the firearms industry trade group National Shooting Sports Foundation, tells USA Today.
So far this year, the FBI has conducted at least 2 million background checks every month – the most since the bureau began conducting the checks.
The record for annual background checks is 27.5 million, and the FBI is on pace to beat that record.
Guns sales traditionally spike on Black Friday.
“The rising numbers may be a symptom of a reawakened gun owner community,” Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at the State University of New York in Cortland, said. “How far you can go in that direction is yet to be determined, but it does suggest how flexible the market is for gun sales.”
