The virus pandemic triggered a socio-economic bomb across major US metro areas resulting in one of the largest panic hoardings of guns and ammo by fearful consumers in quite some time, if not ever.
Gregory Ionadi, 75, the owner of gun shop Smoke N' Guns, located in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, told PJ Media:
"Prior to the COVID outbreak, President Obama was the best gun salesman we ever had," said Ionadi. "Anytime he was going to ban this, ban that, there was a rush on gun sales. When President Trump was elected, the fear of a gun ban subsided, and sales were so flat that several gun manufacturers went out of business."
Ionadi said sales at his gun shop erupted during the pandemic. He said he made more gun and ammo sales from March to April than what was done in the last three years, calling the period absolutely "crazy."
He said once the social unrest spread across the country by late May into early summer, the second round of panic buying occurred.
"You wouldn't believe the first-time gun buyers I've seen," said Ionadi. "I started seeing little old ladies — 70, 80 years old — wanting to defend themselves because of what was going on. So, I had to change my thinking. I had to start buying .22 Magnum revolvers. I have some revolvers here, but I had to start buying revolvers that women and older folks could use because they are easy to handle. Semi-auto and a revolver are two different things."
Gun stocks soared this summer as gun background checks rose 79% in July year-over-year.
The FBI ran over 3.6 million background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) last month - the third-highest on record, behind 3.9 million checks in June, and 3.7 million checks in March.
Surging gun sales also means increasing ammo sales. For the second time this year, first reported in March/April, ammo shortages are developing.
Stories about "ammo shortages" have appeared on local and national media outlets in the last week.
Brownells, Inc. co-chairman Pete Brownell, recently told FOX Business' Varney & Co that a supply shortage in ammunition is now unfolding.
Brownell said the firearm industry recorded a 90% increase in gun sales since mid-March, with much of the sales seen in metro areas. He said ammo sales have risen by at least 30%.
"We could receive truckloads of nine-millimeter [and] we can sell it in hours where it used to take weeks – weeks to a month," he said.
Brownell said the surge in weapon buying might not stop until 2H21.
Google search trend "ammo shortage" is rising for the second time this year.
There appears to be a nationwide shortage of 9MM ammo.
Ammunition Depot: Sold out of 9MM
Ammo.com: Sold out of 9MM
