Virginia gun sales reached a new record for number of firearms sold on Black Friday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
Gun transactions in Virginia totaled 3,902 on Black Friday, a 1.2 percent increase over the previous record of 3,856 transactions on the same day in 2012, according to the latest Virginia State Police figures of mandatory criminal-background checks of gun buyers.
The Black Friday numbers helped boost Virginia’s overall gun transactions to 429,154 through the end of November, or 17.5 percent more than during the same period last year, Virginia Firearms Transaction Center data show.
With an additional 2,539 transactions processed during the first two days of December, Virginia will easily surpass last year’s record of 432,387 transactions. As of Monday, the state had processed 431,693 transactions, just 694 shy of the record.
An assistant professor at Virginia Common Wealth University told the Times-Dispatch that the recent election of Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor could be a driving force behind gun sales. A push for new national gun control legislation could also be driving sales.
Virginia is set to reach a new annual record.