Will Swing States With Gun Sales Boom See Growth in Gun Voters?

The Washington Free Beacon reports today that nine presidential vote swing states have seen a surge in gun sales over that last several months:

A broader look at monthly sales data, as measured by FBI background checks, confirms swing state voters' eagerness to arm themselves in 2020. The nine states at the epicenter of the presidential race between President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden each saw historic seasonally adjusted gun sales in June—larger in all cases than the record-setting sales of March—a sign of surging demand for firearms in the wake of rioting and protests that have turned violent.

The story goes on to talk about the number of  first-time buyers according to a National Shooting Sports Foundation survey that estimates 40 percent of gun-store customers in the first half of 2020 were new, and of those, a large number were women and minorities.

The question is will these new gun buyers also become gun voters.  The consensus among those gun store owners interviewed for the story seems to be not right away:

Swing state dealers and activists have seen a rush on their inventory as Election Day approaches. They are confident that the surge will create new gun voters, but they have yet to see new gun-rights activists. And with COVID, the economy, and civil unrest dominating the 2020 election, it is not clear gun rights will break through as a significant factor despite the stark contrast in policy proposals from Trump and Biden.