FBI: US firearms sales boom during pandemic lockdown

[ripcord]

Source: The Mercury News

As the nation has grappled with a global pandemic and images of some rioters causing damage after hijacking peaceful protests demanding racial justice, more and more Americans appear to be arming themselves.

In July 2020, the FBI conducted more than 3.6 million firearm background checks, making it the third highest month on record for checks since the bureau began keeping statistics in 1998, according to new data released on Monday by the agency. By comparison, the bureau conducted just over 2 million checks in July 2019.

Background checks associated with the sale, transfer or permitting of firearms set an all-time record in June when the FBI conducted more than 3.9 million checks, followed by March 2020 when the agency saw 3.7 million checks.

One other enduring pattern in 2020 has been the order of states topping the list, with Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Florida and California continually seeing the most background checks for the sale, transfer, or licensing of guns.

Read more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/03/fbi-us-firearms-sales-boom-during-pandemic-lockdown/

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I have been amazed to see lines at gun stores in California.

[underpants]

1. Firearm sales boom in pandemic, when it's cold, when the Red Sox win the pennant

When the stock market it booming, when the stock market goes bust, when there are school shootings, when there aren’t school shootings, etc.

It’s the same people buying more guns and this is a “hey everyone’s doing it” advertising.

[redstatebluegirl]

8. Americans love their guns more than democracy.

[RobinA]

11. Really

With all the booms in gun sales going on, I must be the only one in the US without an arsenal. Or any gun at all.

[klook]

12. I'm the other one.

There might be 10 or 12 others scattered here and there. Never understood the desire to own enough for a small army.

[Jedi Guy]

27. Some people collect them, I knew a family like that when I was growing up in Mississippi.

Just recently I've started watching a Youtube channel called Demolition Ranch, and that dude has one hell of a lot of guns, all the way up to a .50 BMG rifle. And of course, he has armor-piercing and incendiary rounds for it. Does he need that? Clearly he doesn't. Does he want it for his collection? Evidently he does.

I don't particularly understand it, so I'll just keep collecting video games and Star Wars collectibles, like a good geek.

[klook]

31. They'd come in handy if you're ever besieged by giant carnivorous subterranean worms

[Jedi Guy]

33. One of the most underrated movies ever.

I remember going to the theater to see it with my Mom when my Dad was deployed to Korea. Good times. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[klook]

36. Yes! "Tremors" is so fun.

There used to be a local channel here that played it so often I called it The Tremors Channel.

I’ve seen it probably five times. I could watch it again right now.

[Jedi Guy]

37. I've got the Attack Pack around here somewhere, has all the Tremors films.

None of them rise to the status of the original, which isn't surprising. But Tremors 4: The Legend Begins is actually quite a bit of goofy fun, IMO. Michael Gross plays Burt Gummer's ancestor and it's just quite amusing. If you haven't seen it, give it a look if you get the chance!

[Bengus81]

28. Yep...and when Obama won...and when Obama won. Those rich fucks at the NRA LOVE crisis......

They can get those dummies to buy and buy and buy. And they talk about people blowing their last buck on the Lottery??

[Dial H For Hero]

30. At least guns can be a good investment, unlike lottery tickets.

[murielm99]

4. We are not stupid about guns.

Remember, many liberals and Democrats are veterans.

I practiced with my gun yesterday. And we are installing a new security light in our yard.

[Kaleva]

32. I reinforced the doors and installed dusk to dawn lights around the perimeter of home.

My wife even let me put in a dead bolt on our solid wood bedroom door along with heavy duty strike plates and 3" screws for the stike plates and door hinges.

[IronLionZion]

3. Shoot the virus

and they'll shoot anyone who looks vaguely like they might be thinking Antifa thoughts.

[Devil Child]

5. Good, a surge in first time purchasers doesn't look good for future anti-rights efforts n/t

[GoneOffShore]

6. Anti-rigths? Reasonable regulations. And an end to gun show sales.

[EX500rider]

18. "an end to gun show sales." A common misconception.

If you go in a gun show and buy a firearm from a dealer who rented a table you will go thru the same background check as if you went to any gun store, including waiting periods if your state requires them.
You can sometimes buy one from a private individual in the parking lot but that can happen anywhere.
It is a "private sale" loophole, not a "gun show" loophole.

[Calista241]

23. Everyone that purchases a firearm in a gunshow is going through a background check.

You're only not going through the process if you're buying a gun from a dude in the parking lot. And if a dealer ever sold a gun in a parking lot with no background check, they can kiss their FFL goodbye.

It would be very hard to prevent person to person sales of anything. People sell lawnmowers, kitchen cutlery, candles, soaps, basically anything you can think of to their friends and acquaintances with no repercussions and no taxes collected. One of these days, someone is going to seriously challenge the background check requirement for private citizens, and the state is going to have to come up with a super good legal argument as to why they're legal.

[Dial H For Hero]

24. Depending on the state, are not sales between non-dealers allowed at gun shows?

Here in Colorado, this was the case until 2013, when voters passed mandatory background checks at the state level.

[EX500rider]

26. Not by anybody who rented a table. Just people who show up and walk around trying to sell a gun..

...they brought with them, usually in the parking lot. But they can do that anywhere.
It's illegal to sell more then a few firearms a year without a Federal Firearms license.

[Dial H For Hero]

29. Before mandatory background checks were passed in Colorado, I recall seeing the occasional table

at a gun show with a sign indicating they were selling their personal collection. I'm not saying that you're wrong about the regulations, just that they might not (in this case) have been rigorously enforced.

Heck, at the last show I attended at the beginning of this year, there was table after table selling 30 round AR-15 magazines, which have been illegal to transfer or sell in Colorado since 2013.

[sl8]

34. Interesting article about magazine sales in Colorado:

https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/despite-ban-high-capacity-magazines-still-sold-in-colorado#:~:text=DENVER%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20A%20state,than%2015%20rounds%20of%20ammunition

Despite ban, high-capacity magazines still sold in Colorado

[TomCADem]

14. I Am Surprised. I Thought You Were Progressive

You have consistently been attacking Democrats from the left, but then to flip and attack gun control from the right?

[Devil Child]

15. Some say the element of surprise is key to making love last in a relationship

[TomCADem]

16. Man fires at officers with AK-47 a day after refusing to wear a mask, police say

It is odd how folks cherry pick what rights must be unfettered, particularly with respect to guns where the right has used the open display of guns as a means of intimidation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-fires-officers-ak-47-day-after-refusing-wear-mask-n1235652

A man in Pennsylvania opened fire last week on a Bethlehem cigar store employee after refusing to wear a mask inside the store, police said.

The next day, police said, he shot at officers with an AK-47 during a traffic stop near his home.

A man identified by police as Adam Zaborowski, 35, of Slatington, entered Cigars International in Bethlehem Township, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia, at 11:23 a.m. Friday, police said. He was not wearing a face covering as the store requires and the governor has mandated, according to Bethlehem police.

Employees advised the man that customers must wear masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, police said.

[Devil Child]

17. You just changed my stance with this powerful and moving post. Thank you TomCADem.

[TomCADem]

19. Joni Ernst carries a gun in case the government decides "my rights are no longer important"

I think that is the essence of many pro-gun advocates. Like Joni Ernst they see the essence of the 2nd Amendment as a right to use their gun to violently oppose governmental and societal decisions with which they disagree. Of course, as the AK-47 story illustrates, 2nd Amendment remedies don't work out so well in practice.

https://www.salon.com/2014/10/23/tea_partiers_scary_extremism_joni_ernst_carries_a_gun_in_case_the_government_decides_my_rights_are_no_longer_important/

Joni Ernst, the Tea Party Republican taking on Democrat Bruce Braley to succeed the retiring Sen. Tom Harkin, declared at a 2012 NRA rally that she carries a gun to defender herself against the government, "should they decide that my rights are no longer important.”

Speaking at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition's Second Amendment Rally, Ernst said, “I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere. But I do believe in the right to carry, and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family -- whether it’s from an intruder, or whether it’s from the government, should they decide that my rights are no longer important.”

Ernst's statement is reminiscent of remarks made by Tea Party Senate candidate Sharron Angle in 2010. Angle, the Nevada GOP's ultimately unsuccessful nominee against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said in an interview that year that the Second Amendment "is for us when our government becomes tyrannical."

"I'm hoping that we're not getting to Second Amendment remedies," Angle added. "I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems."

[Devil Child]

20. You just hardened my new stance with this powerful and moving post. Thank you again TomCADem.

[NickB79]

7. Previous reports say POC are a large part of this

A lot of Black men and women are arming up.

I'm fine with that.

[Lonestarblue]

9. Trump and some of his supporters want a civil war.

Perhaps people are taking note of Trump’s gestapo tactics and arming to defend themselves. I’m not a gun person, but given the politics and the rabid behavior of some right wingers and anti-government nuts, I can understand the impulse to buy a gun.

[melm00se]

10. I was at a club shoot

and one of the gentlemen I shot with owns a gun store (he shoots on Sunday when his store is closed) and his informal eyeballing said that 40-50% of his sales were 1st time gun buyers.

[Steelrolled]

13. We are all stocked up on toilet paper

What's the next big thing? Guns? Ok I guess I gotta get one.

[Igel]

21. Compare

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213851335

[Dial H For Hero]

22. Two anecdotes showing just how true this is:

I was at the sporting goods store Cabelas a couple of weeks ago, and I went to the firearms department to see what ammunition they had available. Keep in mind this is a big store. Their entire handgun ammunition stock consisted of two boxes of .25 ACP and one box of .41 magnum. They didn't have a single box of .22 LR. Lots of shotgun ammo, but only birdshot. Plenty of rifle ammo, but none in military calibers such as 5.56x45, 7.62x39, or 7.62x51. All the .30-30 you could want, though.

A few days ago I stopped at a local gun shop to buy some paper targets. As I waited, the clerk behind the counter asked if he could help the next gentleman in line, who said he was here to see what guns were for sale. The clerk gestured to an empty wall.

Glad I stocked up on things ahead of time!

[jayfish]

35. 9mm Is Nearly Impossible To Find.

It's been that way since before the lockdowns. I'm down to 2 mags and that's not a good place to be.

[Polybius]

25. I wish NYC residents had this option

The amount of red tape and money to apply for a gun permit here is massive.