A woman shops for a handgun at Frontier Arms & Supply gun shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, US on March 18, 2020. (Photo: Agencies)
Riots, criticism of police spur demand amid pandemic strains, researchers say
Jim Hinsdale, owner of Chuck's Firearms in Atlanta, said he's seen a sharp increase in sales since the rioting in Minneapolis spread to Seattle and Portland, Oregon, among other cities.
"People feel they're on their own," he said. "They're afraid and concerned about lack of police, failure of courts to enforce the law. They're interested in anything related to home and personal defense－handguns, shotguns and rifles, but not hunting or marksmanship rifles."
Hinsdale said men and women, young and old, now buy weapons in about equal numbers. While gun sales are booming across the United States, ammunition is in short supply because production hasn't met demand.
In Atlanta, murders soared 86 percent in June from the same month a year ago. Ninety-three people reportedly were shot from May 31 to June 27, compared to 46 for the same period last year, the Atlanta Black Star reported, citing police figures.
The right of private citizens to "keep and bear arms" is guaranteed by the US Constitution's Second Amendment.
There have been similar upticks in gun sales in the past.
Gun sales spiked after the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings in 2012; the San Bernardino, California, office shootings in 2015; the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shootings in 2016; and then the riots following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in police custody in Minneapolis, said Wellesley College economics professors Phillip Levine and Robin McKnight in a report published by the Brookings Institution.
In 2016, gun and ammunition sales surged in part on fears that Democrats would win the presidential election and impose new gun-control laws, but concerns eased with the election of Donald Trump, a Republican endorsed by the National Rifle Association, the Wellesley economists said.
Personal safety
"The 2020 spike is less about concerns regarding access to firearms than personal safety," Levine and McKnight concluded.
"In March, concerns about personal safety arose from both a deadly new virus and an economy in free-fall. By June, concerns about the virus and the economy remained, and were compounded by new evidence of racial injustice in policing, widespread protests, and discussions of defunding the police."
There are about 400 million guns in the US, or more than one for each of the nation's 330 million people, the researchers said.
"When public goods are not provided by the government or are provided on a scale that some consider to be inadequate, individuals turn to private provision of services," they said.
In July, the FBI conducted 3.64 million firearms background checks－the largest monthly total since the agency began background checks in 1998.
Background checks aren't the same as total guns sales but serve as a proxy for first-time buyers. The US government does not track gun purchases.
Other trends also seem to have an effect on gun sales.
Some states have released prisoners as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus among the incarcerated.
That parallels calls by the "Black Lives Matter" and Antifa movements, among other groups, to "defund" the police.
In New York City, nonfatal shootings in July increased 177 percent over the same month a year ago, jumping to 244 from 88, police said.
In a recent earnings call with investors, Chris Metz, chief executive officer of manufacturer Vista Outdoor, said ammunition sales surged last quarter and were driven by a 40 percent increase in first-time gun buyers.
Metz said apparent stockpiling by gun owners suggests ammunition sales will remain strong.
"Industry data continues to highlight unprecedented demand for ammunition and firearms," said Jim Chartier, an analyst at Monness, Crespi& Hardt, in a research note to investors.
"Google Trends (search) data shows a similar acceleration for ammunition given concerns around COVID, civil unrest and the upcoming election."