The great irony of Joseph Biden’s presidency is that he could be good for the gun industry.
President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are already fueling gun sales with the
gun control platform they ran on. Americans are buying guns like never before. Gun sales have surged since the Covid-19 pandemic swept through America in March.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted
32.13 million background checks in the first 10 months of the year, breaking an annual record before the year is over. While FBI background checks are not the same as sales, they serve as the closest nationwide proxy.
Gun sales are fueled by fear over the coronavirus pandemic, a flattened economy, the millions of unemployed workers and civil unrest stemming from volatile protests and police brutality. Gun sales are also fueled by politics, and consumers are motivated by the fear of gun control.
Biden’s election is seen as a victory for gun control groups like Everytown for Gun Safety. “We can count on Biden and Harris to address gun violence and save lives via executive action, and we look forward to standing behind them every step of the way,” said Everytown spokesman Adam Farina, who praised Biden-Harris as “the strongest gun safety ticket in history.”
But not everybody sees this as a good thing. Frantic buyers are rushing to gun stores to stock up before Biden has the chance to impose gun control restrictions, including a proposed manufacturing
ban on assault rifles.
