PUBLIC SAFETY Pandemic, election lead to record-high firearmsales
A SP I KE IN SALES
A rise in firearm background checks since March mirrors the trends gun dealers across the state have seen throughout 2020.
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BY DANICA LLOYD
doing. I’m here because, for whatever reason, I’m scared of something, and I feel the need to learn this skill set,’” Ward said. On top of this, the COVID-19 pandemic has put new restrictions on the manufacturing process, such as limiting the number of people who can work at any given time to produce new merchandise. “Ammunition has been in short supply since March, and it continues to be,” Scruggs said. “You can go into some of the big-box stores, and the ammunition aisle looks like the bread aisle in a grocery store back in April.” Safety and security While purchasing firearms might make people feel safer, Scruggs said he believes more guns in homes make families less safe—especially when first-time buyers make an impulse purchase before understand- ing the responsibility that comes with owning them. He encouraged gun owners to receive proper training and acquire safe storage options. Gun Sense advocates for Texas lawmakers to enact an extreme risk protection order law, which would allow a judge to determine whether an individual threatening to harm themselves or others is competent to own firearms. Scruggs said this measure could reduce incidents of mass shootings, domestic violence and suicide statewide. Texas saw 3,522 gun-related deaths in 2018—up from 2,848 four years earlier, according to the Centers for
Nearly 26.7 million firearm background checks were conducted across the U.S. fromMarch through October—up from 18.6 million during the same time frame in 2019, accord- ing to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Ed Scruggs, the board president of Gun Sense, a statewide gun violence prevention nonprofit, said it is typical to see an uptick in gun sales follow- ing traumatic events such as mass shootings or economic insecurity. The events of 2020 have made many feel uneasy and at risk, resulting in an unprecedented season of boosted sales, he said. “This year really was a storm of several things coming together,” Scruggs said. “We not only had the pandemic; we had unrest in cities and urban areas; we had the presidential election, and all of those things have combined to just see these skyrocket- ing sales numbers.” Eric Ward, a certified firearms instructor based in Cy-Fair, said compared to last year, he has done about six months’ worth of business every month at 4Ward Defense since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. More people are purchasing firearms to feel protected, he said, and while many of these individuals previously owned guns, he said the biggest trend he has seen in his business is first-time gun owners. “We have had a dramatic increase in what we call new shooters—people who are like, ‘I have no idea what I’m
SOURCES: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, RAND CORP., CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, PEW RESEARCH CENTER/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
BY THE NUMBERS
Disease Control and Prevention. Another policy priority for Gun Sense is universal background checks of individuals seeking to purchase a gun. Scruggs said it is too easy to buy a firearm in Texas without a back- ground check. “What’s interesting is there was already more than 300 million firearms in America before this recent round started,” Scruggs said. “We just keep adding to the stockpile, and we don’t see the value in that, obviously. We think there’s more than enough to go around.” On the other hand, Ward said he believes gun laws are an infringement on individuals’ rights to be able to protect themselves at all costs. “At the end of the day, this is a right,” Ward said. “With rights come responsibilities, obviously, but I do think that more guns in the hands of individuals is a freer society and a better-off society, for sure.”
1.4MILLION active handgun license holders in Texas in 2018
Texans died in a gun- related incident in 2018. 3,522
of American gun owners cite protection as a major reason. 67%
of Texans own guns. 37%
nationwide say gun laws should be stricter. of Democrats 86% 31%
and of Republicans
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CY-FAIR EDITION • DECEMBER 2020
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