Gun Sales Soar in Swing States | Eastern NC Now

Stephen Gutowski and Charles Fain Lehman of the Washington Free Beacon highlight gun sale details in key electoral battlegrounds, including North Carolina.

ENCNow
Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Mitch Kokai.

    Stephen Gutowski and Charles Fain Lehman of the Washington Free Beacon highlight gun sale details in key electoral battlegrounds, including North Carolina.

  • Former mechanic Shawn Shriver bought a storefront about an hour outside Pittsburgh years ago. He created a 400-square-foot gun shop that he runs with his wife. They sell guns, ammo, and holsters to their neighbors. They normally carry about 150 pistols on a regular day. But there haven't been many regular days since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March, as well as the public unrest that emerged in June.
  • "I've got like three pistols in this store," he said on Wednesday. "That's it."
  • A similar story has played out in many gun stores across the country in recent months. Shriver's experience may be more relevant to understanding the electoral implications of the recent riot-inspired gun-sales spike because of where it's happening: a small town at the southwest tip of a swing state that could play a key role in electing the next president of the United States.
  • "After COVID hit we sold out of ammo," Shriver said. "And then they started with the protesting, and a lot more guns started going off the shelves."
  • Pennsylvania is not the only bellwether state where this is happening.
  • A broader look at monthly sales data, as measured by FBI background checks, confirms swing state voters' eagerness to arm themselves in 2020. The nine states at the epicenter of the presidential race between President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden each saw historic seasonally adjusted gun sales in June — larger in all cases than the record-setting sales of March — a sign of surging demand for firearms in the wake of rioting and protests that have turned violent.
  • Many of those states saw substantial increases by comparison to historical means, too.

Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published )
Enter Your Comment ( text only please )




North Carolina’s Fight for a Bill of Rights John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics Fed Fails To Fix Its Key Problem


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

“I’m from America, 250 years ago we were way bigger than 6/1 dogs, and look at us thriving now.” Justin Gaethje pulls off an all time sports upset.
There are many people who overlook the brilliance of the US Constitution. They argue that it is outdated and unfit to adequately govern such a modern nation as ours in the 21st century.

HbAD1

"I plan to keep his counsel close until our paths cross again," JD Vance said on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed an executive order creating the bipartisan Health Care Affordability Commission that he said will look at ways to make healthcare more affordable for North Carolinians.
"Margo’s Got Money Troubles" explores how financial desperation drives women to OnlyFans. That’s not empowering. It’s exploitative.

HbAD2

“They have never managed anything like this before, and it’s like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches coming out the sides."

HbAD3

 
 
Back to Top