Want to frighten the gun prohibition lobby?
Declare a pandemic and watch legions of fence-sitting non-gun owners scramble to be first in line at the nearest gun store, then watch their facial expressions when they discover buying guns really isn’t as easy or haphazard as they’ve been led to believe.
Disappointment and worry are great motivations to change one’s philosophy, especially when it might involve personal preservation. Every new gun owner can translate to a new rights activist, which means one less gun-control extremist.
This past March, for example, 2A Defense took a close-up look at the “gun rush” where an estimated 2.2 million firearms were purchased by panicked people evidently fearing a collapse of society as they knew it. Firearms retailers told us many — if not most — of their customers from the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in February through at least the first couple of weeks in April were first-time buyers.
According to some dealers, there were lots of people at gun store counters who had previously been gun control advocates. As liberals often do, they evidently believed all those restrictive gun laws they supported were meant for someone else. They were stunned when they learned they couldn’t just hand a clerk cash or a credit card and take their new gun home.
They discovered background checks slowed down because the National Instant Check System (NICS) was overloaded. This happened because “non-essential” employees were furloughed, others got sick and more than 3 million background checks were initiated, a new record for the month of March.
These new gun owners also discovered waiting periods, and found out they couldn’t just walk around with a loaded handgun unless they applied for, and received, a carry permit or license — plus, it took time to get one of those.
In short, lots of “fence sitters” or former gun control supporters learned they’ve been deceived by the gun prohibition lobby and they didn’t like it.
Jump ahead to right now. As this is written we’re not sure how much the November election results will have changed the dynamic, but come January, many of these folks may be new allies in state level efforts to change, or perhaps even repeal some restrictive gun laws. This prospect has gun grabbers such as Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, Giffords, Brady and the Alliance for Gun Responsibility very concerned.