Why?
Pieces on Earth: Christmas 2011 Saw Record Gun Sales
Nearly 30 years later,
A Christmas Story is a holiday TV staple. But Americans, heedless of the film's lesson, seem determined to follow in young Ralphie's footsteps: According to the FBI, background checks on gun buyers hit a record single-month figure --
more than 1.5 million -- in December. On the day before Christmas Eve alone,
102,222 such checks were ordered, making Dec. 23, 2011 the second-busiest day in gun-buying history, after this year's Black Friday.
In all, the six days leading up to Christmas saw 500,000 background check requests.
Most would-be gun-buyers pass their checks. According to CNN, "Only 1.3% of the searches result in people being denied permission to buy a weapon."
And there's no way of knowing how many guns have been sold this holiday season, since people often buy multiple weapons at once.
Fear of Gun Control Leads to Stockpiling
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/01/03/pieces-on-earth-christmas-2011-saw-record-gun-sales/