The gift of a gun appears to be high on many Floridians' holiday shopping lists this season. More than 13,000 background checks were conducted over the recent Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a record number. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement may conduct nearly one million by the end of the year.
The number of background checks has been increasing steadily over the past few years, to the point FDLE is asking for eighteen new positions to handle them all.
FDLE spokeswoman Samantha Andrews says the agency isn't sure why more Floridians are arming themselves, but their mission is to approve or decline a gun buyer as quickly as possible."Essentially, we want to ensure that individuals who by law are eligible to purchase firearms are able to purchase those firearms", Andrews explained. "We run a criminal history check on them. Additionally, we run our mental health database check as well."
Andrews says gun purchases regularly spike during the Christmas season, as well as during the tax refund period in the spring and, somewhat surprisingly, for Valentine’s Day.