According to a report from The Trace, one-fifth of U.S. households purchased guns during the COVID pandemic, resulting in more than 15 million Americans keeping firearms in their homes for the first time.
Americans purchased almost 60 million guns between 2020 and 2022, with yearly sales totaling to about twice the level of 15 or 20 years ago.
Many first-time gun owners, according to the report, bought guns to protect themselves and their families against the uptick in home invasions and violence during the time.
From Red State:
This shift towards personal protection is evident in the fact that the buyers during the pandemic were more likely to be women, people of color, and renters, according to the NORC survey. The heightened crime rates that developed during the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd might have also been a contributing factor. The Hill’s report on The Trace’s data seemed to suggest that the increase in gun ownership has contributed to the uptick in gun deaths that occurred over the same time period. “It’s a totally different type of gun ownership now,” said John Roman, a senior fellow in the Economics, Justice and Society Group at NORC, a nonpartisan research group at the University of Chicago. “It’s not a rifle stored away somewhere that you take out twice a year to go hunting. It’s a handgun, probably a semiautomatic handgun, that you keep in your bedside table or in your glove compartment, or that you maybe carry around with you.” However, the article provided no evidence that the increase in legal gun purchases has contributed to the rise in gun violence. The fact that the vast majority of gun homicides are committed by individuals who illegally obtain their firearms seems to cast doubt on this contention. This is news that would likely cause a screaming meltdown in the anti-gunner lobby, which is desperately trying to persuade Americans not to arm themselves. But for those who understand that the government cannot save you when you are in danger, this is a welcome development. The increase in gun ownership during the pandemic highlights the exercise of Second Amendment rights by millions of Americans. The increase in gun sales reflects the exercise of this constitutional right by individuals who have chosen to purchase firearms for various reasons, including self-defense, recreational shooting, and collecting. This increase in gun ownership serves as a reminder of the importance of individual freedoms and the right to make choices about personal safety and security.
