Richmond Times Dispatch: June Gun Sales Top 81,000 in Virginia

You can find the story here.  FFLs interviewed for the story confirm reports by the National Shooting Sports Foundation that the record breaking sales in Virginia and nationwide are being made by folks from all walks of life (race, sex, creed, etc), and that a good portion of the sales are being made by first time gun buyers.  While some of the surge was due to the Governor Northam's gun ban push, the Wuhan Virus and now the civil unrest has also played a major role in the sales surge. The RTD also reports that the sales increase, paired with the the pandemic, has led to a supply shortage of some firearms and ammunition nationwide.

“The problem is, there is a finite supply of guns,” Cochran (of Trader Jerry's) said. “They’re doing the same social distancing at the [firearm] manufacturing plants. There’s supply problems in getting parts. I’m sure some of the parts come from China and other countries.”

Cochran said one ammunition manufacturer told him that he couldn’t provide the ammo Cochran requested “because they didn’t have the boxes to put it in. When you shut down the whole country and then try to get it back up a little bit, it’s pretty tough.”

It remains to be seen if these new gun owners will vote to protect their newly aquired firearms.