The Hill: Higher Gun Sales Partly Due to ‘Spotty Unrest’

On Saturday, The Hill reported on the record surge in firearm sales and suggested that “spotty unrest” since the 2020 presidential election is a partial factor in the rush to buy a firearm.

The column in The Hill, written by Jordan Williams, opened with: “Gun sales are on the rise across the U.S. with some experts predicting that gun reform policies championed by the Biden administration as well as the continuing uncertainty around the pandemic will keep gun sales high in 2021.”

In addition to President Joe Biden’s promised gun controls and the coronavirus, Williams mentioned, “protests over racial injustice from last summer” as well as “months of spotty unrest” following the November 3, 2020, election as reasons for the surge in gun sales.

National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Mark Oliva told Williams there is no reason to believe gun sales are going to begin tapering off.

Oliva said, “There’s every indication that it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. I think if you walk into any retailer right now, you’re going to see that gun case and that gun shelf is still pretty sparsely populated. That tells me that there’s still an unmet demand.”

Breitbart News contacted Oliva for further comment and he made clear he believes the run on guns will continue because of Biden’s pledges of gun control.

The Hill noted that Biden’s gun control pledges include “banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and requiring background checks for all gun sales.”

In other words, Biden plans to push an “assault weapons” ban and universal background checks, two gun controls that California adopted in the early 1990s.

Ironically, the number of shooting victims in South L.A. rose 742 percent during the first 16 days of 2021, even though an “assault weapons” ban and universal background checks are in place.

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.