Black Friday Gun Background Checks Set Record

The Blaze has the story here:

By Friday afternoon, that figure had reached three checks per second, CNN reported, putting 2014 on track to blow past the prior Black Friday record of 144,758 FBI-processed gun transactions in a single day.

Black Friday is usually one of the busiest days of the year for the FBI, which handles the large portion of firearm background checks.  However, Virginia conducts its own checks throught the state police.

Strong Year for Firearm Manufacturers

This shouldn't be suprising, given the fact firearm sales have reached historic highs.  But some investment managers who talked to ABC News for this story expressed surprise:

Peter Zeuli, CFA, head portfolio manager at Philadelphia Investment Partners, tells ABC News he is surprised how well Ruger, Smith & Wesson and other gun makers have performed. Ruger's earnings he calls consistently strong. He used to own the company's shares, he says, but had sold the stock, in part on expectations that the Obama administration would push through new firearms restrictions. That has not happened.

Most people would probably attribute the manufacturers good fortunes to the fact Obama's gun control push sparked sales to go through the roof.  One portfolio manager had a different explanation:

Randy Bateman, chief investment officer of the Huntington Asset Advisors in Columbus, Ohio, tells ABC News there's another explanation for gun makers' good times: Rural consumers have more money in their pockets. Farm incomes, he says, have risen in the past year. On top of that, hydraulic fracturing in farm states has brought in more money. That, he says, translates into increased sales by gun makes.

Whatever the cause, firearms remain the only industry that has done well in the five years of Obama's economic policies.

Hat tip to The Gun Wire.

Virginia Sets Record for Single Day Firearm Background Checks on Saturday

Yahoo News reports today that this past weekend, Virginia recorded a spike of 42% over the same Saturday sales last year.

On Saturday, Virginia state police fielded 4,166 requests for background checks, a 42 percent increase from the same Saturday last year and the highest number of transactions received in a single day since the program was implemented in 1989. Sunday's 1,828 background checks in Virginia represented a 43 percent increase from a year ago. Colorado also set a one-day record for background checks on Saturday with 4,200, the highest number since the program began in 1999.

One Virginia firearm dealer said he saw huge sales in modern sporting rifles and "high-capacity magazines."