Black Friday gun deals: Background checks surge as shoppers buy in response to gun control proposals

The number of FBI-run background checks for firearms purchases has been surging this year, threatening to break the one-year record of 27.5 million gun checks as a wave of mass shootings has stoked continuing calls for more restrictive gun laws. Some of the sharpest spikes were reported in August and September, following successive attacks in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, which left 31 dead and 50 wounded, suggesting that buyers were driven in part by fear that lawmakers would take action.