Another Worrying Side Effect of #Covid-19: More Guns
▻https://undark.org/2020/04/27/guns-covid-19
RICK FRIEDMAN, owner of Right to Self Protect, a firearms store and training facility with two locations in New Jersey, is accustomed to seeing the same clients month after month. But when SARS-CoV-2 began to spread, Friedman noticed a change. His neighbors began to stop him on the street and ask about coming in. These were people who hadn’t bought a gun before, he said, and they were bombarding him with questions about the gun-buying process. Emails came in, too, prompting him to add more information to his website. And customers who had registered for a firearms card years ago but had never purchased a gun started filling his stores.
Friedman said these first-time gun buyers were concerned that somewhere down the line, basic services, such as law enforcement, might be disrupted by the pandemic. The virus, after all, is not just a health hazard. It is also a source of economic and social uncertainty. And in this new reality, these prospective gun buyers wanted to be able to fend for themselves. The National Rifle Association, the country’s major firearm #lobbying group, has promoted this messaging...