NEW YORK – More U.S. residents applied to purchase handguns, rifles and
other firearms from licensed dealers on Black Friday than any other day on
record, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data released this week.

Black Friday, the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday,
is the traditional start of the U.S. holiday shopping season, with sharp retail
discounts on merchandise.

On Nov. 27, a total of 185,345 applicants were processed through
the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which determines
whether a person is eligible to purchase guns from a licensed dealership, the
FBI said in a statement.

The FBI background check system, launched in 1998, allows gun
retailers to clear prospective buyers via phone or computer. Firearm background
checks are not required for sales or transfers online, between two individuals
or at gun shows.

The number of background checks on Black Friday marked a 5.5
percent increase from the 175,754 a year ago.

The rise comes as President Barack Obama and other gun control
advocates blame the ready availability of firearms for years of mass shootings
at U.S. schools, malls and other public venues.

Obama has said he hoped a shooting at a Planned Parenthood
building in Colorado on Friday in which three people were killed and nine were
wounded would spur more Americans “to do something” to support
tighter controls on gun sales.

Gun rights supporters, including members of the National Rifle
Association, have fiercely resisted any limits on the right to bear arms,
citing the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.

The previously highest number of applicants processed through
the instant background check system in a single day was recorded during the
week after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012.

The Connecticut shooting claimed the lives of 20 children and
six adults, was the second deadliest in the United States after the Virginia
Tech massacre in 2007.