As Democrats and other leftists push to defund the police, gun stores around the country are witnessing a surge in gun and ammunition purchases.

CNN Business points to research firm Southwick Associates Inc. and reports that “firearms dealers across the country have reported a recent spike in sales, citing the unrest following police brutality protests in support of George Floyd and calls to defund the police as catalysts.”

They note that National Shooting Sports Foundation figures show that the surge in gun sales has been marked by a high volume of handguns. In fact, “semi-automatic handguns outpaced shotguns by a two-to-one margin as the weapons of choice among first-time gun buyers.”

The purchase of handguns over other types of guns indicates self-defense as a purchasing factor.

Southwick Associates’ Rob Southwick noted, “Anything that can cause people to feel unsafe in relation to possible physical crime to self, others, and property can drive firearm sales.”

Breitbart News reported that the number of firearm background checks conducted in May 2020 shattered the previous record for the number of background checks conducted in the month of May. FBI numbers show 3,091,455 NICS checks were conducted in May 2020, easily surpassing the previous record of 2,349,309 checks set in May 2019.

And May came on the heels of April 2020’s record-setting checks, as there were more NICS conducted in April 2020 than in any April since background checks on gun sales began being conducted in April 1999.

Ironically, April followed a recording-breaking March, which not only set a record for the month of March but actually shattered the all-time record for the number of checks conducted in single month. Breitbart News reported March 2020 witnessed 3,740,688 background checks.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.