Firearms sales in the United States hit a record in 2020, with nearly 17 million guns sold this year so far, according to analysis form Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting.
''By August, we had exceeded last year’s total. By September, we exceeded the highest total ever,'' Jurgen Brauer, Small Arms Analytics’ chief economist, told The Guardian, noting that their estimate for the number of guns sold this year through last September is ''not only more than last year, it’s more than any full year in the last 20 years we have records for.''
Brauer said the previous record year was 2016, when gun sales were likely driven by the strong gun control platform of then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
A recent survey of Californians from the University of California, Davis found that of the people who bought guns this year, ''Two-thirds expressed worry about lawlessness, and close to half worried about prisoners being released. Half also cited worry about the 'government going too far,''' according to the lead author of the study, Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz.
''I don’t think there’s been anything like it in my 30 years of being involved in firearms,'' noted Chuck Rossi, who co-founded the gun-rights group Open Source Defense with current and former tech workers.
''There’s no inventory,'' he added. ''There are no guns to buy. There is no ammunition to buy. There continue, to this day, to be lines at the gun counters, with empty shelves.''
Rossi’s co-founder Kareem Shaya added: ''The common thread is just uncertainty. A feeling of, hey, if nobody else is going to be able to take care of me, push comes to shove, I want to be able to take care of myself.''
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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