Gun sales increase on Black Friday

November 28, 2016

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Black Friday isn’t just for deals on appliances and electronics. Guns are typically a hot seller, and this year is no different.

Black Friday business at Folmar's Pawn was steady.

Owner Mark Folmar says, “We had a lot of people looking for what they were thinking about getting.”

And Folmar isn't surprised that gun sales went up.

"A lot of people have money in their pockets, a good amount of people are employed," Folmar says.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement ran 10,122 background checks on the big shopping day. It's almost 2,000 more than last year's 8,251.

And the state could be getting more gun friendly with a legislator gearing up to propose some controversial legislation.

New state senator and former House member Greg Steube plans on again proposing guns on campus legislation that would allow concealed carry on college campuses. A key senator who's blocked the bill in the past is no longer in the chamber.

Senator Steube says, “The Senator that held up the bill in committee is gone. A lot of House members who voted for it in the past are now in the Senate.”

But not everyone's on board. New House Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith -- who represents the area where the Pulse Nightclub shooting happened -- said the party will fight against some of the gun friendly proposals.

“We are going to have to play defense. We will have a lot of bills pushed by the gun lobby, the guns on campus legislation, these proposals move the state in the wrong direction,” Rep. Guillermo Smith says.

FDLE has already run more than 95,000 background checks this month -- almost 15% more than November in 2015.