Fearing violence and political uncertainty, Americans are buying millions more firearms

Friday, February 5th, 2021

Fearing violence and political uncertainty, Americans are buying millions more firearms

Author: Hannah Denham and Andrew Ba Tran
Source: The Washington Post
Publication Date: Feb. 3, 2021 at 4:05 p.m. PST
Link: Fearing violence and political uncertainty, Americans are buying millions more firearms

Stephan: I find this story quite alarming. America already has a serious gun psychosis problem. How serious is this national mental illness? In 2020 19,223 people, were killed by guns, almost a 25% increase from 2019. There is no other developed nation in the world that has that level of gun death, both as an absolute number and as a percentage of population. Now gun sales are soaring into levels never before seen, which means that gun deaths are going to be going up. Here are the facts.

Firearm sales soared in January after a mob-led assault on the U.S. Capitol and the arrival of a new administration that favors tighter gun restrictions.

More than 2 million firearms were bought last month, according to The Washington Post’s analysis of federal gun background-check data. That is an 80 percent year-over-year spike and the second-highest one-month total on record.

Background checks, and sales of firearms and ammunition, have been increasing pace for months. The surge is in line with the record pace set in 2020: Nearly 23 million firearms were bought, representing a 64 percent jump year over year.