As the threat of Covid-19 grew on the horizon in early March, gun and ammo sales started to trend upwards–sharply.
By the end of the month, the lines outside gun stores were making national headlines. Florida was no exception. New data released from the FBI says that Florida’s background checks in March were the highest the state has ever seen.
In fact, they were 23% higher than the next highest month on record, December of 2015.
One gun store owner, Alex Shkop of Guns & Range Training Center of West Palm Beach said, “We had two to three weeks of an Armageddon-type of set up.”
The data says the March 20th–the day that governor DeSantis banned dining in all restaurants and bars–was the highest single day of gun sales for the state of Florida.
In fact, averaged out over the entire month, Florida averaged 5,000 background checks a day. That number has slowed to 3,000 checks a day in April.
Still, in March, there were long lines outside the gun stores for weeks on end. Many gun stores even hired private security guards or off-duty law enforcement to stand outside and keep the crowds in line.
First Time Buyers
Despite decades of propaganda effort by the media and anti-gun groups like Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety, gun stores reported record numbers of ‘first time gun owners.’
Shkop said, “We had people that were basically openly admitting that they have never owned a gun, they have never used a gun. They were purchasing firearms and they were asking questions like how to use them and how to take care of them. A lot of first-time buyer questions.”
Gun owners know that some of these first time buyers will not stay gun owners once the threats brought by Covid 19 have passed. But still, adding tens of thousands of gun owners in a month is a good thing.
First of all, it shows that when the SHTF–or people even start to think it might — all the anti-gun propaganda gets tossed out the window.
And Secondly, for those who stay in the fold, it adds tens of thousands of people who dislike being vilified in the media. They may even join us in the fight against gun control alongside us at some point down the road.
Either way, we’re happy to have them.