Coronavirus: gun rush in the United States

In the United States, during this time of the Covid-19 epidemic, there are those who rushed to the toilet paper, and those who stormed the gun stores. There has never been as much background check - a must in many states to acquire a gun - as in March, the FBI revealed on Wednesday April 1. In all, the federal organization received 2.4 million files from potential buyers. A record since the establishment in 1998 of the "background checks" system.

This procedure is the most reliable means of estimating the craze for firearms in the United States, since there is no monthly federal data on all direct sales. The record number recorded by the FBI corresponds to a 44% increase compared to the month of March 2019.

Dangerous NRA game

The main difference between the two eras? The coronavirus. This eagerness of the Americans to arm themselves in the face of an enemy who cannot be shot is astonishing. However, the two seem to be linked. For example, the FBI recorded a peak in California for background checks the week of March 16, when the state’s governor issued a general containment order. The images of long queues in front of arms shops in the San Francisco area then went around the media and social networks.

From a source in Burbank, California: Another gun store with a long line outside amid the Coronavirus outbreaks. pic.twitter.com/1zBBWErWPu

For Jonathan Wackrow, a former American intelligence agent interviewed by CNN, the same dynamic that prompted people to massively buy weapons after the 2012 Sandy Hook school killings and the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack is still at work this time. “We know that in times of crisis, people are afraid, feel disoriented and defenseless. The purchase of a weapon makes it possible to give them a protective reference ”, assures it.

But there are also factors specific to the health situation. "People are afraid of seeing an increase in acts of violence if the epidemic continues, as it would increase the number of infected people that the institutions - supposed to protect them - could no longer cope with," notes Timothy Lytton. , gun industry expert at Georgia State University, interviewed by the New York Times. The Americans would thus prepare to defend themselves in the event of a state failure.

The NRA does nothing to reassure them, quite the contrary. The powerful American gun lobby is pushing for purchase by fueling current fears. “It is more urgent than ever to have the means at home to defend your family in these times when prisoners are released to avoid the creation of epidemic centers linked to prison overcrowding and where first aid and police respond to certain emergencies first, ”said Amy Hunter, spokesperson for the organization.

The lobby even released a video in which a breast cancer survivor, automatic rifle in hand, explains, looking serious that “god alone decides if I should survive the disease, but it's up to me my protection when the inevitable riots break out and the police no longer have the means to ensure our safety ”.

The craze of “first-time buyers”

This anxiety-provoking atmosphere explains one of the peculiarities of this rush for firearms: a majority of buyers had never previously owned a pistol or rifle. "The sellers are formal, they see an unprecedented influx of customers who had never set foot in their store," admits to the British daily The Guardian Mark Oliva, spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the main group of professionals in the gun industry.

A phenomenon that particularly worries supporters of tighter sales control. "We must prepare for a sharp increase in accidents related to these firearms which end up in the hands of people who have no training in their handling," fears David Chipman, a spokesperson for Giffords, a center for prevention of violence by firearms.

The mix of weapons and containment could also prove explosive, according to activists. "It is very worrying when we think of women who find themselves confined with an abusive companion or young children who risk accidentally falling on these firearms", explains Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, an association of mothers family campaigning to further regulate the arms trade.

Incidents involving gun owners nervous by the Covid-19 have escalated in recent days. In Georgia, a man was arrested for pointing his pistol at two women he suspected of being infected. In New Mexico, a young man accidentally killed his cousin with a gun he was carrying "as a measure of protection against the epidemic," he told police who arrested him.

What push some local officials to close the gun sales outlets. This is what a sheriff tried to do in California last week, before having to back down. His decision was met with strong hostility from the local population and pro-arms activists. Intensive lobbying to the highest levels of the state, detailed by the Wall Street Journal, has ultimately resulted in President Donald Trump adding guns to the list of “essential and critical activities” that cannot be affected by containment measures. Just like food and energy.

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