The FBI performed an average of almost three background checks a second for gun sales on Black Friday, setting a new record of more than 144,000 background checks on one of the busiest days of the year for gun sales.
As of 2 p.m. Friday afternoon, the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System had received and processed more than 94,000 check,
FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer told CNN, and was well on pace to bypass the 144,758 checks performed last year for Black Friday.
The amount is nearly three times the daily average, and will be performed by 600 FBI and call center employees who will be working 17-hour days to finish out the reviews in three business days, as is required by law. Agency employees perform checks every day except for Christmas, and will be working through the weekend on the Black Friday requests.
Normally, around 500 background checks fail every day, according to the NICS, usually because there is incomplete information for a check. For Black Friday, about 3,000, or two percent of the checks will not be completed because of insufficient records, such as court documents.
It does take about 100 extra employees to handle the Black Friday increases, said Fischer.
According to The Washington Post, out of the 10 days on which the FBI has conducted the highest volume of background checks since 1998, two were the last two Black Fridays.
The trend of Christmas gun-giving appears to have taken off in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in 2012.
"The challenge is to have staff keep up with this volume," said Fischer. "We do that by limiting personal leave, asking employees to work extra shifts and reutilizing former... employees to serve in NICS during this busy period."
But doing the background checks is serious business, said FBI Manager Kimberly Del Greco, as it "means saving lives and protecting people from harm by not letting guns fall into the wrong hands." In addition, the three day limit "ensures the timely transfer of firearms to eligible gun buyers," she said.
About 186,000 background checks can't be completed a year, according to the FBI, but that doesn't mean that many people aren't getting guns, as ultimately, the sale is up to the gun shop owner. Out of 21 million background checks that were finished last year, just about 1.1 percent of the potential purchases were denied.
But normally, major retailers like Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, or Cabela's will not sell the weapons without full approval, said Fischer.
There are 10 factors that disqualify purchases, reports CNN: a felony conviction, arrest warrant, documented drug problem, mental illness, undocumented immigration status, dishonorable military discharge, renunciation of U.S. citizenship, restraining order, history of domestic violence, or indictment for any crime punishable by longer than one year of prison.
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