COVID-19 pandemic may change U.S. gun ownership for long haul: report

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The number of estimated gun sales skyrocketed by 80 percent, topping 2.3 million in a single month for the first time in the United States in March 2020, with the first COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns sweeping the country, reported U.S. news portal HuffPost last week.

"Gun sales brushed against that monthly peak several times over the next year," said the report, citing a data analysis from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearm industry's trade group.

More than two years later, with the worst of the pandemic long over, COVID-19 appears to have left a lasting legacy on gun sales, as Americans were still on track for their third-highest gun-buying year of all time, according to NSSF spokesperson Mark Oliva.

Fears that a crime wave would overwhelm police appeared to drive the initial pandemic spike in March 2020, experts interviewed by HuffPost largely said.

However, "sales also seemed to break new records repeatedly on the heels of separate, if loosely related, events," said the report.

For instance, the 2020 summer of protests following the murder of African American George Floyd by a white police officer heightened fear of crime in some communities, and stoked fear of the police in others, with both trends likely translating into rising firearm purchases, it added.