Six days before Christmas, 50,000 Americans bought guns

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Bani Thakur

03 January, 2012

On a festive occasion when people buy gifts for their loved ones, an estimated 50,000 Americans bought guns. This is all the more disturbing as the US has a horrific precedent in public killing by people who have bought licensed or unlicensed weapons over the counter.

AT A time when terrorist attacks and hijacking have become a daily affair, buying a gun for safety would be quite normal. Having said that, it is quite odd for so many people in recession-hit America to buy guns during Christmas in America. It can all be a coincidence but given the situation, no one believes in the coincidence so much. The FBI has recorded that around 1.5 million background checks were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. The most disturbing fact is that out of the 1.5 million customers, 50,000 of them bought guns just six days before Christmas. Surely, they were not thinking of gifting it to their partners or loved ones. Then why the sudden rise in gun buying?

As reported in telegraph.co.uk, this is the highest single month buying spree by the people of America, and if individual took more than one gun, then the number of guns bought can be much higher. December 23 saw around 102,222 background checks and made it the second busiest day in the history of gun buying. Something of a similar type was recorded in the previous year in November.

It seems that the people have lost faith in their security system owing to the fact that the number of policemen on the streets has declined over time. They now feel that if any harm comes upon them they would have to deal with rather wait for justice to happen. The economy may also be responsible for the creeping insecurity among the people. Obviously, due to job cuts and late payments, there are people who would get desperate and in turn the crime rates are going to increase.

However, the selling of guns also has a downside to it as there are people who do not use it for their defence but to take out their frustration and their anger on the existing government or to take out a grudge on someone. A person who has a clean background might use a gun in the future to do a criminal act, so a background check normally does not address the crime aspect of the problem.