Gun Sales Soared During Pandemic, Women and Minorities Biggest Customers
Last year, gun sales skyrocketed 40% compared to 2019
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At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, America was rife with protests and riots across Democrat-run cities, which in turn caused a massive spike in gun sales.
The uncertainty spurred by the pandemic saw new gun owners falling into the demographic of minorities and women.
2020 was the highest gun sale year since records began, USA Today reported.
Last year, gun sales skyrocketed 40% compared to 2019.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a record 39,695,315 background checks.
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But the surge in gun buying has continued well into 2021.
U.S. gun sales soared 60% to 4,137,480 in Janaury when Joe Biden was inaugurated as president, which is the largest single month since figures started to be recorded in 1998.
"There was a surge in purchasing unlike anything we've ever seen," Dr. Garen J. Wintemute, a gun researcher at the University of California at Davis, said.
"Usually, it slows down. But this just kept going."
Biden's recent warning he will sign an executive order on gun control has spurred gun buying even more.
"Not only were people who already had guns buying more, but people who had never owned one were buying them too," the New York Times reported.
"New preliminary data from Northeastern University and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center show that about a fifth of all Americans who bought guns last year were first-time gun owners."
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The research found that new gun owners were women, one-fifth were black, and one-fifth were Hispanic.
Founder of The Reload, Stephen Gutowski, a publication on America's firearms policy, told NPR:
"I think it's actually a - part of a larger trend. We've seen this going on for over a decade now. Gun owners have become more suburban. They've become less white and less male and younger over that time period. And what you saw last year was just an acceleration of that."
In April this year, 1.694 million background checks took place, a 0.9% increase over April 2020, according to the NSSF’s adjusted data.
Neon Nettle reported:
The data also shows there was a 21.1% increase in unadjusted NICS numbers compared to April 2020.
Last month, 3.48 million total background checks were completed, compared to 2.87 million in 2020.
That means there was a 21% increase in the number of Americans who are carrying a firearm, particularly with a concealed carry permit.
The NSSF attributes the sky-high numbers to two factors.
“Americans are buying firearms for concerns for personal safety and for White House and Congressional efforts to limit and deny the ability to purchase certain firearms,” NSSF’s Director of Public Affairs, Mark Oliva, said in a statement.
“The continued gun control statements by President Biden, many of which have been fact-checked and debunked as false, are driving sales.”
