Idaho gun sales rose after Obama election, school shootings. This is coronavirus’ impact
The coronavirus pandemic has boosted gun sales in Idaho in a way that 9/11, the presidential election of Barack Obama, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, did not.
Last month, Idaho processed a record 30,989 background checks on potential gun buyers as the virus that causes COVID-19 infected people across the United States.
That was 27% higher than the previous record, 24,342, set in March 2018, a month after the Stoneman Douglas shooting, where 17 people were killed and another 17 were injured. The number of background checks last month equaled 15 percent of Idaho sales for all of 2019, according to data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“People were wanting the ability to have a little personal protection,” Matt Perry, owner of Buckhorn Gun & Pawn in Boise, said by phone. “There was probably a little sense of scare out there.”
A number of gun buyers over the past three to four weeks at his store were first-time buyers, Perry said.
It was difficult for a few weeks to keep guns and ammunition in stock, he said, because of the demand, which increased across the country. Background checks totaled a record 3.7 million, 1.1 million more than in March 2019.
Gun shops were listed as essential businesses in Gov. Brad Little’s March 25 stay-home order, which Little on Wednesday extended through April 30.
The number of gun background checks performed in Idaho increased from 6,228 in August 2001 to 8,312 in September 2001, the month of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There were nearly 12,000 gun background checks performed in Idaho during each of the first two months after Obama, a Democrat deemed by some as hostile to gun rights, was elected president in November 2008.
In the aftermath of the Dec. 14, 2012, Sandy Hook shooting, gun checks increased from 13,395 that November to 20,555 in December before dropping to 17,708 in January 2013.
The National Rifle Association has filed lawsuits against New York and New Mexico for deeming firearms sellers as nonessential businesses that were ordered closed.
“The current public health emergency does not justify the complete elimination of this right, especially during a time when many New Yorkers have valid concerns about their physical safety and welfare,” NRA attorney William Brewer III said in a news release.
The anti-gun violence group Everytown for Gun Safety said the NRA is exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to push gun sales through “fear mongering.”
“The NRA’s suggestion that Americans should stockpile firearms during this pandemic is rooted in the organization’s desire to line the pockets of gun manufacturers,” the group said in a news release. “More guns don’t mean more safety: If more guns made Americans safe, then we’d be the safest nation in the world — but America’s homicide rate is 25 times than that of other high-income countries.”
Business at Perry’s shop has slowed to “normal levels” in the past 10 to 14 days, he said.
“I have ammunition on the shelf and I have guns that are being replenished,” said Perry, who said he favors steady business rather than rushes. “It’s kind of a good thing that it was somewhat of a short-lived rush.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 9:07 AM.
