Why are Americans buying more guns now? Gun sales in the United States increased by 80.2% in May 2020 compared to same period in 2019, according to Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting (SAAF).
SAAF estimates that more than 1.7 million guns were sold in May. Handgun sales increased by 94% selling over one million units, whereas single long-gun sales were 535,014, an increase of 66.3% compared to last year.
All other likely background check-related sales was 138,316, an increase of 48%.
“Yet again, firearms sales have surged in unprecedented ways. In May 2020, very nearly two handguns were sold for every long-gun, pushing their ratio new record of 1.97.
JURGEN BRAUER, CHIEF ECONOMIST OF SAAF.
He said the ratio increases traditionally in the first half of the year before dropping off in the second half. “Still, the boom in handgun sales has been particularly noticeable in recent months.”
Two knotty issues may have sparked a surge in gun sales. The Coronavirus pandemic induced lockdown, resulting in massive unemployment of both business owners and employees and the killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota Police officer Derek Chauvin.
Seething protests exploded nationwide in what began as an expression of outrage when Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis policeman killed George Floyd, an African-American man suspected of buying cigarettes with a fake $20 bill, on May 25th.
Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, and ignored pleas from bystanders who observed Floyd was motionless after severally begging the policemen that he couldn’t breathe.
More than Twenty states have called in the National Guard to quell unrest that trailed the death of Floyd amid growing concern about racial injustices in America.
The stock prices for several gun making companies, including Sturm, Ruger & Co., jumped Monday.
Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the gun demand prompted by COVID-19 was already straining suppliers.
“Then you have this looting and rioting causing another demand, and it’s really putting pressure on inventory,” Mr. Hyatt said.
SAAF’s firearms sales estimates are based on raw data taken from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. It is adjusted for checks unlikely to be related to end-user firearms sales.
