China News Service, August 4th. According to a report by the US Chinese website, more and more Americans are arming themselves due to the riots caused by the new crown epidemic and ethnic protests. On August 3, local time, the latest data released by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showed that the agency conducted more than 3.6 million background checks related to the purchase of guns in July 2020, since the bureau began statistics in 1998 The third highest month since the data.

　　According to reports, background checks related to the purchase, transfer or licensing of guns set a historical record in June 2020. At that time, the FBI conducted more than 3.9 million investigations, and the second-largest one was in March 2020 when the agency conducted 3.7 million. Surveys.

On the evening of July 21, local time, a mass shooting occurred at a funeral in Chicago, the United States. The picture shows the scene of the crime.

　　Among them, the US states of Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Florida and California have the most background checks related to gun purchases.

　　According to reports, since the beginning of 2020, background checks on gun purchases have surged, which largely coincides with the time of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. In addition, since May, the death of an African American man Freud by police violent law enforcement has triggered nationwide protests and led to violence and riots. Government officials in many places across the country chose to use force to enforce the law.

Data map: San Francisco, the United States held a gun-for-cash event". The picture shows the police sorting out the recovered guns. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan

　　According to reports, it is not uncommon for a large number of gun background checks to occur after some tragic events. In 2012, federal law enforcement agencies noticed that in the month of the fatal shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the number of background checks related to gun transfers increased by 39% compared with the previous month. In the month of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, the number of gun background checks surged by 48%.

　　Following the record number in March 2020, an official from the NRA, one of the largest gun rights organizations in the United States, said that concerns about personal safety during the epidemic may be the main reason for the surge in the number of FBI background checks.

　　"In uncertain times, gun sales will rise because Americans know that their safety is ultimately in their own hands." NRA spokesperson Amy Hunt said in a statement.