U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Various news agencies are reporting that panic-buying of firearms and ammunition initially spurred by fears of social unrest related to the coronavirus pandemic have continued strong into the summer, thanks to riots following the death of George Floyd under Minneapolis police restraint, and the rise of a movement to defund police.
According to CNN Business, “Firearms dealers across the country have reported a recent spike in sales, citing the unrest following police brutality protests in support of George Floyd and calls to defund the police as catalysts, according to gun industry analyst Rob Southwick, founder of the market research firm Southwick Associates Inc.”
Just in Illinois, the Chicago Tribune reported, “With a wave of crises crashing across the country, more than 40,000 Illinoisans applied for a gun permit in a little more than two weeks this month, more than 500% over this time last year, according to Illinois State Police.”
The irony is overwhelming because many of the same people advocating to cut police funding have also traditionally supported gun control efforts. Apparently they never expected so many people would care enough about their own safety that, faced with a reduction in law enforcement, they would have to fend for themselves and to do that they would consider arming themselves.
“You’re seeing a reaction to people’s concerns about being able to provide safety for themselves and the ones that they love,” said Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, during the CNN Business report.
Even more ironic, if not downright hypocritical, the gun prohibition lobbying group Everytown for Gun Safety said in an email fundraising blast June 18, “We must close the loophole allowing open carry of loaded assault rifles and fight gun extremism across America.”
This was days after a video appeared on YouTube showing one of the apparent organizers of Seattle’s “Capitol Hill Organized Protest” (CHOP) zone handing a loaded semiautomatic rifle to a young man who claimed to be over age 18, with no documented proof or background check as required by state statute. Since passage of Initiative 1639 in Washington in November 2018—a measure financially supported by Everytown—it has been illegal to “deliver” a so-called “semiautomatic assault rifle” to anyone under age 21 without a background check, 10-day waiting period and proof of completion of a firearms safety course within the previous five years. So far, Everytown has been mute.
Provisions of the law are being challenged in federal court by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association.
The young recipient of the rifle is later shown walking down the street at night openly carrying the firearm.
This was clearly a violation of state law, but so far, nobody in Seattle’s liberal government structure has said a thing about this incident.
A far-left radical group calling itself Seattle Indivisible declared in an email alert, “Police violence is a systemic problem — solving it will require us to transform how we approach public safety. That’s why Seattle Indivisible supports Black Lives Matter in their call to Defund the Police, and why yesterday we sent a letter to Mayor (Jenny) Durkan and the City Council in response to the Mayor’s proposed 5% cut to SPD (Seattle police). This business-as-usual proposal is thoroughly tone deaf in the midst of a national movement against racially motivated police violence, and is hardly a good-faith offer when Black Lives Matter and other Seattle-area activists are calling for 25-50% cuts to SPD’s budget.”
Seattle Indivisible is the same organization that, back in February, urged followers to support a trio of gun control measures including one to limit so-called “high capacity magazines” to 15 rounds. This group also has not even acknowledged that guns were being carried by the CHOP protesters.
The leftist Utopians behind Seattle’s CHOP zone movement, who support defunding police, also seem to recognize the necessity of firearms. Socialist Seattle Councilwoman Kshama Sawant issued a statement in which she declared, “It is crucial that the CHOP occupation has developed a self-defense committee, which has played an important role at the encampment, and that general assemblies to ensure ongoing political discussions have been taking place…Elected committees of self-defense have historically played vital roles during general strikes, occupations, and in mass movements, in order for the working class and marginalized people to defend themselves and carry out necessary functions in place of the forces of the state.”
As reported earlier at AmmoLand, Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, released a statement about all the new gun owners who have suddenly started exercising their Second Amendment right.
“We’ve witnessed something that is nothing short of a sea change, and in some cases might approach the level of epiphany, about gun ownership,” he observed. “We’ve heard anecdotal reports from all over the country about people flocking to gun shops who had never before owned a firearm. Now that they are gun owners, we expect them to be very protective of their rights.”
Back in March, CCRKBA welcomed the new gun owners to the firearms community. At the time, Gottlieb commented, “They’re learning firsthand about waiting periods, possible registration requirements and problems sometimes involved with background checks and how their rights might be delayed or even denied because some criminal has the same or similar name. In most states, they are discovering they need a license or permit to carry outside of their home, and there may be a whole additional set of requirements involved…It’s absurd, and new gun owners realize it.”
The importance of this cannot be overstated. With elections only a few months away, these new gun owners could provide an important voting bloc in critical swing states. If gun rights are important to these new shooters in the long run, they will have to help elect people who value the Second Amendment beyond the usual lip service.
That’s the challenge for Gottlieb and other grassroots gun rights advocates, and they’ve got just over four months to get the job done.
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About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
OK, lets clarify one thing. Gun rights elimination laws in Blue Utopias only apply to the political opposition. The political opposition in a Blue Utopia is anyone who has taken and adheres an oath to our Constitution. You know, law abiding people. Just look at how felons in possession of firearms evade prosecution in these worker’s paradises to see what I mean. If I was on video handing an AR to my brother in our native city of Seattle we would both be in irons and on our way to a state pen. Keep in mind we are both combat… Read more »
nrr) Hell in Colorado the cops will stand by and applaud while illegals remove the American flag from a federal facility and replace it with a Mexican flag. You or me try to stop them and we’ll be arrested, charged with a felony then personally sued by the ACLU for being racist.
I confuse easily, I guess.
The protestors don’t want the police, yet a protestor is suing the police because they didn’t show up with he was shot during the occupation (by a peaceful protestor, no doubt). Sawan, the Socialist City Council member, a vocal critic of the police, bug business, homeowners, landlords and nearly anyone other than herself, now preaches the need for security?
I’m just getting confused in my old age.
“ANTIFA Announces Formation of a Red Army in U.S.”
“There can be no doubt that politicians have ordered law enforcement not to enforce the law.”
“So one thing is perfectly clear now: If the authorities do not stop and prosecute this sort of political violence, peace-loving American gun owners will.”
“No matter what Democrats say, you have a universal human right to self protection — not granted by but guaranteed by our nation’s highest law. When the police refuse to do their jobs, law abiding citizens will have no choice but to protect themselves and their loved ones, as is their basic human right.”
https://conservativefiringline.com/antifa-announces-formation-of-a-red-army-in-u-s-the-violent-left-says-they-want-a-shooting-civil-war-blm-in-the-forefront/
If this was any “legal American”, the FBI, ATF, DEA, Sheriff’s, and/or local police, would be out in force eliminating the threats, and confiscating all weapons! Our problem is the fear of “enforcing the law” because it might offend the abusers. Until we realize that the participants of these criminal and terrorists areas are nothing more than “bad fertilizer”; we’ll never recover! More action, less talk!
All those costumes, high powered weapons, tanks and Armored Personel Carriers (APC’s) are allergic to soy but that is to our advantage because we are not and soy is much easier to clean up than blood.
I’m guessing most of the new gun owners have no clue which end is the business side of their new purchase. Going out on a limb I would think maybe 10% will get some training and be somewhat safe. This whole world is turning batshit crazy with foolishness and George Floyd is not dead. Never was. People need to stop being a bunch of pussies and stand up for what is right. Busting up a city and messing up people’s stuff ain’t right. Telling me I have to wear a mask… ain’t right. Telling me what flag I can have… Read more »
Our challenge indeed… i wonder how many of the new gun owners were at least given some cursory information on training by the dealer or used the sales moment as a teaching point of the difficulty of actually purchasing a firearm to protect themselves and their families.
I don’t know, but I went to my local outdoor range yesterday morning to sight in a rifle and the place was packed…I mean no more parking spaces, and I got there 25 minutes after it opened. Never seen this before EVER. I turned around and left.
Burn,Loot and Murder will force any thinking person to question their need for self defense.
ATF is the original BLM, (Burn, Loot & Murder).
Don’t assume all the new gun owners are good guys…..Could be a lot of radical left wingers loading up. If they do decide to do away with police in some areas it could turn out to be judgement day for Justice!