America's job creators, and the persons who patronize them:
Gun-buying after Thanksgiving is becoming something of a holiday tradition. In each of the past two years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported a record number of calls for background checks for gun purchases on the Friday after Thanksgiving. A flood of 154,873 calls on Black Friday in 2012, nearly three times the daily average that year, caused outages at some of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System's call centers.
The FBI does not track actual firearms purchases, and customers can buy multiple guns at one time, suggesting the total number of weapons sold on Black Friday could be even higher than the number of background-check calls. The bureau has reported 17,238,102 background checks this year through Oct. 31.
You really have to wonder about our nation's mental health.
Also too, mental health:
Starting as early as Thursday night, shootings and stabbings have been reported at retailers in several states. Among the most violent episodes happened yesterday at a Kohl's in Romeovile, Ill., when an alleged shoplifter dragged a police officer from his car before being shot in the arm by other law enforcement officers present at the scene, The Chicago Tribune reports.
A shooting was also reported Thursday night in Las Vegas. Two assailants reportedly attempted to steal a TV from a man who had recently purchased it. After arguing, the man was shot in the leg before the attacker sped off in his car, leaving the TV behind, CBS News 8 reports. In an email sent to The Huffington Post, Kohl's said it was "cooperating with the authorities leading the investigation" into the incident.
A police officer in Rialto, Calif., was also injured Thursday night when a fight broke out at a local Walmart.
In Virginia, a man was allegedly slashed with a knife during an altercation with another shopper over a parking space at a Walmart.
A stabbing was reported early Friday morning in Carlsbad, Calif. The victim in that case was stabbed in the stomach at the entrance of a mall, according to NBC San Diego.
Sure, I know that out of millions of people, these are statistically insignificant events, but they point to a more worrisome social trend. Granted, the overwhelming majority of Americans are peaceful and tolerant people, but the minority who aren't are growing increasingly unhinged, and are more heavily armed, with each passing year. Perhaps this won't amount to anything in the long term, but I really worry sometimes that something will happen that will set them off, and we're going to end up with some armed insurrection on our hands. Angry people and guns are not conducive to a civil society.
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Baron V