Highest ever numbers of Americans buying guns

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – US gun sales began surging in March as COVID-19 cases, lockdowns and unemployment took hold, but reached record numbers with added worries about the civil unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd on May 25, Fox News reports.

According to National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the FBI ran 7.8 million background checks for gun buyers from May to June, Fox News reported. In June, background checks increased by 136% compared to the same time a year before. The number of background checks carried out for civilians wanting a gun license in June was the highest since the FBI started carrying out checks 20 years ago.

The NSSF said there were three times as many gun license background checks carried out in Georgia in June compared to a year ago, and over double the regular number in Oklahoma, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota, Fox News said.

About 40% of guns sold in June were for first time buyers, the NSSF estimated. This was a 25% increase on the average. Handguns used for personal safety have been the most popular among buyers.

“With the pandemic, it’s driven more by fear for personal safety; it’s people who haven’t been interested in the past,” Jacquelyn Clark of Bristlecone Shooting in Colorado told Fox News.

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