Gun sales continue soaring, due in part to new round of stimulus checks

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — Gun sales are soaring. Last month, stores sold about 1.4 million guns nationwide. That’s a 7% increase compared to February 2020.

At John Brown’s Armory in Beaver County, customers said their stimulus checks spurred them to go shopping.

“They’re saying, ‘I got my stimmy. I got it. I’m spending it today,’” said online sales manager Nicholas Parish.

Shotguns, rifles, pistols, ammunition and anything gun related are flying off the shelves. The gun shop first saw an increase in gun sales at the start of the pandemic. Another spike came around Election Day.

“Days before people get them, they are in here. They are shopping to see what we have, how many of them we have, if we have ammunition. And then when the stimulus actually comes, its nonstop for us,” Parish said.

Parish said while he is enjoying the boost in sales, it comes with some irony: the government is issuing the stimulus checks. The House of Representatives recently approved two bills that would require background checks on all gun sales and transfers, and extend the window for background checks to 10 days. Both measures are now headed to the Senate.

“The big fear of universal background checks is that it leads to a registry. A registry can lead to confiscation and no one wants that,” Parish said.

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Cox Media Group