--- title: America's Gun-Buying Binge Is Overwhelming the FBI description: The FBI is struggling to stay on top of an escalating number of background checks on Americans who want to buy guns. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 350 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology published: '2016-01-20T15:31:16.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:49:58.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Background Checks - FBI - firearm related background checks - Gun Control - Guns - guns in America - NICS - NRA - pubdesk word_count: 209 canonical: https://money.com/guns-america-fbi-background-checks/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![People shop for guns at a gun show hosted by Florida Gun Shows, January 9, 2016, in Miami. Schlesinger purchased an Uzi and a Smith & Wesson 38.](https://img.money.com/2016/01/160120_em_gunchecks.jpg?crop=0px%2C37px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85) So many people want to buy guns that the government can't keep up. Americans have been buying guns in spades lately, with a record-breaking 185,345 background check requests filed on Black Friday alone. The month of December and the year 2015 both broke records, and the government is scrambling to stay on top of the paperwork. According to *[USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/19/fbi-guns-background-checks/78752774/)*, roughly 70 FBI employees tasked with reviewing appeals from people who were turned down for firearm purchased after criminal background checks have had their duties temporarily shifted just to keep up with the flood of new background check requests pouring in every day. The agency's assistant director Stephen Morris called it a "perfect storm" that's been growing over the past several months, and the backlog is only growing. As part of his gun-control push earlier this month, President Obama laid out [a plan](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/04/fact-sheet-new-executive-actions-reduce-gun-violence-and-make-our) to hire another 230 FBI staffers to help process background checks. Although plenty of his proposals aimed at reducing gun violence have been criticized, even Republican lawmakers and the National Rifle Association are voicing cautious support to the idea of adding to the ranks of the overwhelmed National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the division of the FBI that processes background checks, [*USA Today* said](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/19/fbi-guns-background-checks/78752774/). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/guns-america-fbi-background-checks/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Federal Agencies", "item": "https://money.com/federal-agencies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "America's Gun-Buying Binge Is Overwhelming the FBI" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/guns-america-fbi-background-checks/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/guns-america-fbi-background-checks/", "name": "America's Gun-Buying Binge Is Overwhelming the FBI", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-01-20T15:31:16.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/guns-america-fbi-background-checks/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/guns-america-fbi-background-checks/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:49:58.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "America's Gun-Buying Binge Is Overwhelming the FBI", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/160120_em_gunchecks.jpg?crop=0px%2C37px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "160120_EM_GunChecks" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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