This year, among the socks and sweaters, cakes or flowers, a large number of people will find another present: guns.
Gun shop owners across the world, more so in the US have reported a marked increase in interest in their products over the holidays. In November, the FBI ran more than 2.2m gun background checks, a 24% increase from last year. Gun background checks hit a new record on Black Friday, when 185,345 were processed by the FBI.
The checks are conducted for federally licensed gun purchases and for permits to carry guns. This holiday season, the industry seems to be booming.
Belinda Gallegos, who is a co-owner of ABQ Guns, told KOAT Action 7 News that most people were shopping for guns as Christmas gifts.
Kelly Womack, who is a co-owner of Fort Chaffee Outfitters in Arkansas, said her store sold 40 guns on Black Friday and “a lot of those were gifts”. “What we didn’t sell in guns, we sold in accessories, which were gifts,” Womack told KFSM, a local TV station.
According to Womack, purchasing guns as Christmas presents is legal as long as it is for someone in the same state and all of the appropriate paperwork is filled out. It is illegal to purchase a gun for someone who is not legally allowed to have one. Those receiving the gun also should not be paying for the gun that’s intended as a gift.
male@ugchristiannews.com
