Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, gun sales and interest in firearms training have surged. Surveys, studies, and wild guesses have tried to capture the reason why people, particularly women, are purchasing firearms and gun safety training. This article reviews the trends, explores the impetus for the surge, and offers quotes from women who share their stories in their own words.
First, here are the facts: FBI data showed that 2.6 million guns were purchased in March alone (an 85% increase on the same period last year), with Illinois leading with close to 500,000 purchases, followed by Texas, Kentucky, Florida, and California. Ammo.com saw about a 1,000% increase in firearm sales in Colorado, Arizona, and Texas since late February.
Media outlets were among the first to guess the cause of America’s piqued interest in guns. An article in AS stated that it was the “imminent erosion of fire, police and health services [and] fears over looting, violence and burglaries.” Another article article in Salon stated, “the fear is about the economy collapsing, leading to a rise in crime and violence [and] decades of NRA propaganda have convinced people to associate guns with safety.”
To get better insight on the rise in gun sales, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) surveyed firearm retailers about trends that they were seeing. The May 2020 survey results estimated that 40% of sales were to first-time gun owners, and that 40% of the first-time gun buyers were women.
The NSSF survey revealed that personal protection was the primary reason gun owners were buying firearms. Semiautomatic pistols were the most commonly acquired firearm by first-time buyers by a 2-to-1 margin over second-place shotguns. Modern sporting rifles, revolvers, and traditional rifles were also purchased by first-time gun buyers. Read more