It isn’t only toilet paper manufacturers prospering in our virus-scare ravaged economy. Guns are also flying off the shelves as common people’s common sense tells them something PC government won’t: Emergency supplies won’t help you in bad times if bad actors can just steal them from you.
In fact, firearm sales increased 83 percent this March relative to last March, with handgun purchases up 91 percent, rifle sales rising 73 percent, and background checks spiking 94 percent.
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In raw numbers, this equates to March 2020 sales of 2,583,328 firearms in total, according to Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting. This includes 1,534,000 handguns and 835,663 rifles, reports the Washington Examiner.
(Presumably, the difference between the firearm total and handgun/rifle total is accounted for by shotguns, though this is unclear.)
“Anecdotal information from gun dealers indicated that most of those guns were AR- and AK-style rifles and shotguns,” the site also informs.
Moreover, the “FBI recorded 3,740,688 background checks in March, the most in any month ever — and by a mile. In February, another record-breaker, there were 2,802,467 checks,” writes the Examiner.
“This year alone, there have been 9,245,857 background checks, which are mostly for gun purchases. That [three month] figure is higher than the nation’s total gun background checks for every year from 1988-2005,” the site continues.
The run on guns began when government officials started locking down communities, an action weapons buyers said they feared would spark mayhem and riots.
Yet they also have to fear those no longer locked down: the criminals released onto the streets by state and local governments that claim doing so is a necessary health measure.
So going from coronavirus to Colt, “lines have been snaking out of gun stores throughout the country,” the New York Times wrote Wednesday. “In many states, estimated sales doubled in March compared with February. In Utah, they nearly tripled. And in Michigan, which has become a hot spot for virus cases, sales more than tripled.”
This sales boom is occurring, do note, despite left-wing governments’ attempts to shut down gun stores — with the mainstream media’s at least tacit encouragement.
For instance, the Times made sure to mention in its aforementioned article that “gun-related incidents have been linked to fears surrounding the pandemic.” The paper then outlined three: a man accused of pointing a gun at people, an accidental shooting death, and a felon carrying a firearm illegally (who obviously wasn’t deterred by gun laws. Hmm…).
Of course, this is a bit like accompanying an article about increasing automobile sales with cautionary tales about car accidents and jihadists driving vehicles into crowds. (Note: In 2016, 14,542 Americans died in firearm homicides — traffic fatalities claimed 40,200 Americans.)
Then, the left-wing Guardian newspaper tried to discourage firearms purchases by quoting supposed “gun violence prevention expert” David Chipman as saying, “If you didn’t think you needed a gun prior to March of this year, you certainly don’t need to rush out and get one now.” Yet it’s more correct to say that some people previously just “didn’t think” but are thinking now.
In reality, there are many emergency measures people don’t think to take until an emergency arises. Why, following Chipman’s logic one could also say, “If you didn’t think you needed a ‘bug-out bag’ prior to March of this year, you certainly don’t need to rush out and get one now.”
Yet governments across the country and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) strongly advise having such a bag, which should contain manifold emergency items, including food (video below).
Consider, though, what these governments are tacitly admitting:
They may not be there for you in a crisis.
Also consider: If they wouldn’t be there to feed you, why assume they’d be there to protect you (especially since the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that law enforcement has no duty to do so)?
Despite this, among the literally dozens of emergency items governments recommend your bug-out bag contain, one is conspicuously absent: a firearm — to prevent a bag guy from bugging out with your bug-out bag.
They do recommend “pre-moistened wipes” for “toileting,” though, perhaps so that you’ll have a clean butt when someone pumps a cap in it.
By the way, know that government already has a history of not being there for you in emergencies. During the Los Angeles riots in 1992, for example, a politically correct government’s sins of omission allowed for a period of mayhem, and good citizens were harmed. Innocent truck driver Reginald Denny was beaten almost to death. And the only people able to defend themselves were the armed. Just consider ex-merchant David Joo, who described in the video below what transpired outside his store in ’92 after the police fled the scene.
Speaking of things that may exit the scene in a crisis, unlike with guns and toilet paper, the virus scare has not been good for sales of birdcage liner. That is, dozens of newspapers have ceased printing — in certain cases, perhaps, permanently.
This may be good news, too, given media malpractice. Hey, First Amendment activities can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Photo at top: AP Images
Selwyn Duke (@SelwynDuke) has written for The New American for more than a decade. He has also written for The Hill, Observer, The American Conservative, WorldNetDaily, American Thinker, and many other print and online publications. In addition, he has contributed to college textbooks published by Gale-Cengage Learning, has appeared on television, and is a frequent guest on radio.
