According the FBI, background checks, the most reliable gauge of gun sales, surged from 1,803,397 in November to a record 2,309,684 in December. This is compared to the two million from December 2013.
It has been noted that the steady increase in gun sales around the country seems to be responding to the frequency of gun violence, much of which involves law enforcement. For example, a St. Louis gunshop owner noted that his sales increased immediately after former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown, spurring protests that turned violent.
“People are literally afraid. People are scared to death,” Steven King, the owner of Metro Shooting Supplies, told CNN. “People are coming in with fear in their eyes and they’re saying they need something to protect their houses.”
King notes that before the protests began, he sold between five and ten guns per day, but now he is selling 50 guns on average daily.
It was also reported that after the grand jury failed to indict Wilson for his role in Brown’s death, there was another surge in gun purchases in the area.
“People are buying guns for security to a point where they feel the need to defend themselves against one or more attackers,” said Paul Bastien, the owner of Ultimate Defense Firing Range, which is right across the river from Ferguson. He noted that he was selling around three to five guns a day, and now he is selling up to 30.
Background checks nationwide slowly increased from 1.5 million in August, to 1.6 in October, to 1.8 million in November, to the record 2.3 million in December. CNN cited Black Friday to explain the huge spike between the final two months.
This is not the first time gun sales have risen precipitously after a national tragedy. After the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, sales rose as much at 36%.
