The Federal Bureau of Investigation processed 93% more background checks nationwide between March through July compared to the same period last year — and you gotta’ think many of those new buyers are Trump voters.
In seven states considered toss-ups in the 2020 election — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and North Carolina –gun sales growth showed a 77.9% uptick in 2020.
Fox News compiled this list on gun-sale growth:
ARIZONA
2020: 452,659
2019: 245,249
+ 84.5%
FLORIDA
2020: 1 231, 540
2019: 772, 447
+ 59.4%
MICHIGAN
2020: 657,659
2019: 306, 508
+114%
PENNSYLVANIA
2020: 896,272
2019: 702, 220
+27.7%
WISCONSIN
2020: 457,249
2019: 274, 519
+66.6%
NEW HAMPSHIRE
2020: 114,671
2019: 64, 092
+78.9%
NORTH CAROLINA
2020: 569, 038
2019: 265, 336
+114.5%
One expert downplayed the numbers.
“Statistics say there is growth in gun sales in swing states, but largely these are folks who already own guns buying even more guns, not that there is a wholesale changing of public opinion after so many innocent people have died in mass shooting after mass shooting year after year,” Cristina Antelo, CEO of the government and public relations firm Ferox Strategies, told Fox. “VP [Joe] Biden, like a majority of Americans, is in favor of stricter gun laws that promote responsible gun ownership to keep our schools and public areas safe; not the removal or elimination of guns.”
But gun sales are often prompted by fear, and racial unrest across the country has clearly been driving gun sales.
Gun sales have exploded in New York amid COVID-19 lockdowns and race riots, as well as efforts from government officials to “defund the police.”
New Yorkers bought more guns in June than any other June in the past decade, data show, the New York Post reported. “The FBI ran 52,252 background checks for people seeking to buy firearms in the state, a 121 percent increase from June 2019. Most, or 31,003 background checks, were for people seeking to buy a rifle. Handguns accounted for 11,585 background checks in June this year.”
Cliff Pfleger, owner of Long Island Gun Source, told the paper he “sold out of almost everything.”
Meanwhile, Biden last week called for gun control less than 24 hours after two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were gravely injured by a gunman who opened fire as they sat in their squad car.
“Weapons of war have no place in our communities,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
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