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Virginia gun sales surged 157 percent during the month of June as Virginians reacted to coronavirus uncertainties, protests and riots, and the steady growth of gun control under Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) Democrat-led state government.
Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that there were 81,204 firearm transactions in Virginia during June 2020, a 157 increase over the number of transactions in June 2019.
The 81,000-plus transactions in June also set the all-time record for more transactions in a single month, since Virginia State Police “began tracking [transaction] data in 1990.”
Moreover, there were “410,493 firearm transactions in Virginia” January 2020 through June 2020. That is only 74,000 shy the number of transactions conducted during the entirety of 2019.
The surge in sales began as a reaction to the gun controls pushed by Northam and the Democrat-controlled state legislature. On February 7, 2020, less than a month after thousands had rallied against gun control at Virginia’s Capitol, Breitbart News reported Virginia firearm background checks up nearly 100 percent.
The gun control fears were exasperated by the coronavirus shutdown and concerns that the shutdown would lead to economic collapse. In fact, when sales surged in March 2020 Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that “COVID-19 [was] contributing to record-breaking spike in Virginia gun sales.”
The fear of gun control and the anxiety over COVID-19 were finally compounded by tensions associated with protests and riots in the streets.
Joshua Jennings, owner of Martinville-area Guns, Gear & Ammo, said of the record-breaking June surge, “It’s a perfect storm.”