Roy Exum
The story is told about a State Trooper who saw a Lexus moving a little quickly on the Interstate and, noticing it was being driven by an older white-haired woman, decided to give her a warm-natured warning. After pulling her over, he walked to the driver’s side window and noticed she was pleasant and unusually spry before she said, “Officer, I must inform you I have a handgun ‘carry’ permit … “
“Yes, ma’am, I appreciate your kindness in informing me. Where is the firearm?” She immediately opened her car’s console and brought out a Glock .40 cal. “Sir, mind you it is loaded and there is a bullet in the chamber.” Expertly, she handed it to the officer handle-first and he temporarily put it on the top of her car. “And, sir, I have another one …” she said, reaching under the driver’s seat to grasp a 9 mm. Beretta. “It too is loaded, with a round in the chamber, and the safety is engaged,” she handed it out the window to the Trooper. “Then there is my purse gun … when I drive I keep it over the visor,” the woman smiled, reaching for a small-frame S&W .38 special and handing it to the surprised officer.
Now amused, the State Trooper looked at the mini-arsenal and said, “My goodness, what are you scared of!” to which came her classic reply, “Not one d*** thing!”
I wish all of Tennessee was that way. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has just announced more guns were sold by licensed dealers in the year 2020 than ever before in the state’s history –740,580. That’s a whopping 53 percent increase over 1999 when 484,702 firearms were purchased in Tennessee, where the population is believed to now be 7 million. Quick math will tell you that’s a new gun for every one-in-10 state residents in 2020 alone.
“When people are concerned about their personal security, they buy more guns,” said Phillip Levine, an economist at Wellesley College. “When people are concerned that their access to guns might be restricted, they buy more guns. Last year, we sort of saw both of those things.”
Now, heed this: The FBI believes the American people purchased 39,695,315 firearms for personal use in 2020. That’s the greatest high-water mark in history and is a 40 percent increase over 1999 (28 million). But the swarthiest statistic comes from the government’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The population of the United States is estimated to be 332,113,877 as of Wednesday, January 27, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. In just the last three years, the background check system, a stringent requirement for any legal firearms purchase in the USA, has processed over 300 million inquiries, and rejected just 1.5 million applications.
The reason for the over-the-top rush on firearms can be contained in one word – fear.
There are three main factors:
1) COVID – People who are out of work, in poverty, or who can’t get illegal drugs become desperate. From UC Davis School of Medicine: “The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated persistent structural, economic, and social inequities in the conditions that contribute to violence and its consequences.”
2) CIVIL DISORDER – It is believed 6-to-10 million guns were purchased by first-time buyers. Gun sales to women increased 40 percent. The riots this summer, resulting in over $2 billion (with a ‘b’) damages with precious little retribution, fueled the belief our law enforcement was unable to stop the criminals. The “Defund The Police” hysteria is easily noted in areas where it has happened and in Illinois, home of the Chicago epicenter, there were 7,445,065 new gun sales that represents 19 percent of 2020 national sales but Illinois contains less than four percent of USA population.
3) A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT – Every time a Democrat wins the Presidency, gun sales spike because the fear is the liberal left will take the guns away. While President Biden has said little to bolster such an impossibility, Vice President Kamala Harris made gun control one of her strongest platforms in her failed presidential bid. With 2020 gun sales at 39.7 million, good luck with that. Further, the fact that 19 of the largest cities are controlled by Democratic mayors who repeatedly order police to “stand down” accelerates the desire for self-protection.
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“UNTIL THIS PASSES, WE ARE BUYING GUNS …”
(NOTE: This vignette appeared in The Washington Post on January 18, 2021, in a story entitled, “America on edge: COVID-19 lockdowns, protests and election strife led to record gun sales:”)
Cherie Dercqu, who owns a nail salon in suburban Pittsburgh, never owned a gun until last year. On Thursday, she bought her 11th firearm, a shotgun she plans to keep behind the front door of her home. Dercqu, who said she spent her first stimulus check on guns, now packs a pistol in her purse and keeps another behind the cash register at her shop. She has been going to a range every couple of weeks to practice shooting and said she and her partner intend to keep buying firearms.
“Until this passes, we are buying guns,” Dercqu, 52, said. “We’re buying ammo, and we’re buying as much as we can. We’re two women. We don’t have a guy at home. I don’t want to feel vulnerable without anything.”
Dercqu began buying guns when the coronavirus lockdown brought the economy to a standstill, then bought more during last summer’s protests. “I’ve worked all life for my business, and I’m not willing to give it up to so-called peaceful protesters,” she said. “I’m just preparing for the civil war that is coming. We’re armed to the hilt now. We are prepared.”
Dercqu said the attack on the Capitol and President-elect Joe Biden’s victory have made her more anxious that the new president will limit gun sales. “Every time he says it, that means we are buying another gun,” she said.
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SOME NOTABLE NUMBERS FROM RECORD GUN SALES IN 2020
* -- In three states, gun sales more than doubled over what was reported in 1999. In Michigan, where a bizarre scheme to kidnap liberal Governor Gretchen Whitmer was foiled, gun sales jumped 117 percent, going from 492,171 in 1999 to 1,066,551 in one year.
* -- Rhode Island, America’s smallest state, increased 111 percent to 51,359 in 2020 and Maryland, Joe Biden’s home state, jumped 103 percent to a new high of 302,563.
* -- The only state where there was a decline in gun sales was Kentucky, which was down 19 percent. Yet the Bluegrass State, where the population is about one percent of the U.S. total, represented over eight percent of the nation’s gun sales with a robust 3,330,462 in 2020. In 1999 Kentucky had a jarring 4,120,892 gun sales before another 3,330,462 last year. It is believed the population of Kentucky is 4.5 million people.
* -- In 25 states gun sales increased over 50 percent in 2020 and in 49 states were over 20 percent.
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TENNESSEE’S NEIGHBORS
KENTUCKY – 2020 Gun Sales: 3,330,462. Decrease 19.2% (Pop. 4.5 million)
ALABAMA – 2020 Gun Sales: 1,085,475. Increase 57.3% (Pop. 4.9 million)
TENNESSEE – 2020 Gun Sales: 984,760. Increase 55% (Pop. 6.9 million)
GEORGIA – 2020 Gun Sales: 904,035. Increase 67.7% (Pop. 10.8 million)
NORTH CAROLINA – 2020 Gun Sales: 890,284. Increase 67.9% (Pop. 10.7 million)
VIRGINIA – 2020 Gun Sales: 823,513. Increase 60.6% (Pop. 8.6 million)
MISSOURI – 2020 Gun Sales: 708,184. Increase 42.2% (Pop. 8.1 million)
MISSISSIPPI – 2020 Gun Sales: 366,829. Increase 53.9% (Pop. 2.9 million)
ARKANSAS – 2020 Gun Sales: 324,741. Increase 46.7% (Pop. 3.0 million)
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MILLIONAIRE’S ROW
1. ILLINOIS – 7,455,065 sales in 2020, a 50.6% increase (Pop. 13.1 million)
2. KENTUCKY – 3,330,462 Sales in 2020, a 19.2% decrease. (Pop. 4.5 million)
3. TEXAS – 2,325,281 Sales in 2020, an 45.4 % increase. (Pop. 29.7 million)
4. INDIANA – 1,935,587 Sales in 2020, a 33.4% increase. (Pop. 6.8 million)
5. FLORIDA – 1,912,204 Sales in 2020, a 59.9% increase. (Pop. 21.9 million)
6. CALIFORNIA – 1,601,954 Sales in 2020, a 29.1% increase. (Pop. 39.6 million)
7. PENNSYLVANIA – 1,452,921 Sales in 2020, a 47.1% increase. (Pop. 12.8 million)
8. UTAH – 1,216,773 Sales in 2020, a 47.8% increase. (Pop. 3.3 million)
9. ALABAMA – 1,085,575 Sales in 2020, an increase of 57.3 percent. (Pop. 4.9 million)
10. MICHIGAN – 1,068,511 Sales in 2020, a 117.1% increase. (Pop. 8.8 million)
FIRST RUNNER-UP – Tennessee would be 11th on the most sales-by-state for the year 2020 with 984,760 sales, a 55 percent increase. (Pop. 6.9 million)
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QUOTABLE – “What we’re seeing is a complicated mixture of all the bizarre things going on in 2020,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun lobby group. “The surge of sales started with COVID and people worried we could have problems with the food supply. All year, people saw people being beat up and murdered for wearing the wrong hat. The Capitol was just another example of people rioting, and every time that happens, more people buy guns.”
royexum@aol.com