Colorado agency conducts nearly 4,800 Black Friday gun background checks, most in 5 years

DENVER – Coloradans bought nearly 4,800 guns on this year’s Black Friday—the most since the Colorado Bureau of Investigation started tracking sales in 2013.

The CBI’s InstaCheck Unit, which is tasked with conducting the background checks for firearms transfers in accordance with the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), had 41 people running checks for 21 hours on Friday.

The team conducted 4,779 background checks between midnight on Black Friday and 9 p.m. that evening.

That was up from the 4,329 the team conducted on Black Friday last year. In 2015, the team conducted 4,115 checks on Black Friday; it did 4,119 in 2014, and conducted 3,804 in 2013.

All employees worked shifts of a minimum of 10 hours on Friday to complete the checks.