“Fear, desperation” drive largest month for gun sales ever

Jazz Shaw

Last month we saw reports indicating that requests for background checks and foot traffic at gun shops were spiking in an unprecedented fashion. As it turns out, those weren’t just people going window shopping. The figures for March are now in and a staggering 2.3 million firearms were sold in the United States (an all-time record), many to self-described first-time buyers. But whether they were old hands or new to the process, many of them offered the same reasons for wanting a firearm. The Free Beacon interviewed a number of recent shoppers and they all expressed concerns over the possibility that the rule of law might begin crumbling if the coronavirus gets out of control and they wanted to be ready to protect their families and homes in the event of widespread civil unrest.

Aaron Eaton learned how to shoot in the Army back in 2006 but holstered a pistol for the last time when he left in 2009 and took a job as a technician for a sewer company. That all changed on March 26 when the father of four walked out of an Alabama gun store with a Beretta 92FS, the same gun he handled as a military policeman at the height of the Iraq war.
“Simply put: I wanted peace of mind when it comes to the safety of my family,” Eaton said.
Eaton’s pistol was one of 2.3 million firearms to fly off the shelves in March, the single busiest month for gun sales ever. The Washington Free Beacon spoke to half a dozen new gun owners who purchased a total of six handguns and two shotguns. All of the new gun owners provided proof of purchase, though some asked not to have their last names published because of potential career backlash.

Some of the people purchasing a weapon, like Mr. Eaton in the excerpt above, had prior, military experience with handling a firearm and seemed familiar with the hoops one has to jump through in order to purchase one. Other first-time buyers clearly had a lot more trouble. As we discussed previously, many liberals in California who had previously supported stringent gun control laws were shocked and dismayed with how difficult it was to obtain a gun and how long they would have to wait to bring it home. They also displayed a shocking lack of knowledge about how to safely handle one.

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