US President Joe Biden has talked about ending the US’s “gun violence epidemic” yet sales of guns are running at record levels.
First-time gun owners, young and old from across the country, are pushing record levels of gun sales for what looks like the second year in a row.
“My gun store has had a run like I’ve never seen before,” Todd Cotta, the owner of Kings Gun Center in Hanford, California, told NPR. “It was just an avalanche of new gun buyers for the first time.”
The buyers are being driven by uncertainty, fear and a need to feel safe.
Data from the Gun Violence Archive shows that the number of multiple-victim shootings first spiked in April 2020 and has remained at that level. The most recent wave of shootings, including the 15 April attack in Indianapolis where eight people were killed at a FedEx facility, is just the latest symptom of that trend.
In total, there have been 160 shootings in the US from 1 January to 26 April in which four or more people were injured or killed, compared to just over 90 during the same period in 2020. This year’s total is nearly double the average for the same time period for every year since 2014.
President Biden this week called on Congress to back gun reform legislation including tougher background checks and a ban on assault weapons.
The question is now: are lawmakers ready to give up the country’s right to bear arms?
