First-time gun ownership skyrockets amid riots, increased violence across country

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First-time gun ownership skyrockets amid riots, increased violence across country: 'You can't really be too safe'

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For years, Carlene and Jake went back-and-forth about purchasing a firearm.

The couple is among the hoard of 2.5 million first-time gun buyers who have exercised their Second Amendment right to own weapons. They told Fox News they have received their licenses and are now waiting for their firearms to arrive because they’re on back order.

“With everything going on in both the world and politics and everything, you can't really be too safe,” Carlene said. “We have a family, a young family, so I think that's always on the back of my mind, as well. I think with a lot of the riots and such like that, it's important to – if your First Amendment isn't protected, I guess you always have the second, right?"

She added: “Overall, our country is a little bit on edge right now.”

“We all have our own political standpoints and things like that, but these movements to, you know, defund the police, and these movements of Antifa and what they bring, it's definitely on the back of my mind,” she said. “Do I feel threatened every day? No. But I would say that I did contribute to our decision of finally pulling the trigger, no pun intended, on purchasing.”

The young parents from California – who did not feel comfortable using their last names or more specific identifiers when they spoke with Fox News on Sunday out of concern about possible backlash – said with the country “a little bit on edge right now,” it was the right time to make the purchase.

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At the beginning of June, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) announced that more than 2.5 million people had become first-time gun owners in the first half of 2020.

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January to June 1 of 2020, was “unlike any other year for firearm purchases — particularly by first-time buyers — as new NSSF research reveals millions of people chose to purchase their first gun during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jim Curcuruto, the shooting foundation's director of research and market development, at the time.

NSSF data show a record number of gun transactions – 10.3 million – were processed in the country during that time period.

“First off,” Curcuruto wrote in a July 21 blog post, “approximately 90 percent of retailers reported an increase in firearm and ammunition sales during the first half of 2020 versus the first half of 2019. How big are those increases? Responding retailers noted that they are seeing a 95 percent increase in firearm sales and a 139 percent increase in ammunition sales over the same period in 2019.”

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