Toys, electronics and clothing weren’t the only items flying off retailers’ shelves on Black Friday.

Gun sales also shot into record territory on the day after Thanksgiving, with the number of firearm background checks by the FBI up nearly 20 percent from the same day a year ago, to an all-time record.

For the Nov. 23-25 period, this year’s 283,423 background checks represent an increase of more than 30 percent from a year ago.

The reasons, East Texas gun dealers said, range from politics to economics.

Jacob Palmer, president of J&J Firearms in Longview, credited his company’s big November to President Barack Obama’s re-election.

“Obama’s probably the number one gun salesman in America,” Palmer said, adding there was a notable jump in gun sales the day after the election.
 

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