CNN is reporting that Democrat Joe Biden’s “projected White House win” could ignite a new round of hot gun sales in a year that has “already been a landmark year for gun makers.”
Rommel Dionisio, managing director of Aegis Capitol, told the news network, “The election of a Democratic president who has promised to tighten gun control legislation could very well prompt increased demand for firearms.”
He said gun owner concern about Democrat threats to push gun control will energize what CNN described as “a predictable surge in sales before and after elections.” That much is already true, as gun sales over the past several months since outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has resulted in a dramatic increase in gun sales over the same period in 2019.
Biden’s gun control scheme has been posted online for several months. It includes a ban on future manufacture and sale of so-called “assault weapons” including semiautomatic modern sporting rifles, the most popular long gun in the United States. Millions of people own them, and the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that rifles of any kind—including so-called “assault rifles”—are used in a fraction of all homicides, despite their demonization by the gun prohibition lobby.
Now anti-gunners are claiming credit for helping Biden secure the apparent presidential victory. In an email blast to supporters, Shannon Watts, founder of the anti-gun Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, stated, “You have worked day-in and day-out to elect the strongest gun safety ticket in history. You have helped defeat President Donald Trump at the ballot box. It’s a giant setback for the gun lobby and a big step forward for our movement to end gun violence.”
Watts added some hints about their grassroots strategy, from which gun rights activists might learn: “Thanks to you, our volunteers made 1.4 million calls and sent more than 2.2 million peer-to-peer text messages to voters to achieve this victory. And with the support of our Students Demand Action volunteers, we registered over 100,000 people to vote!”
Despite the threat a Biden presidency poses to gun owners in key states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, Democrats brought out more votes. There are challenges to the counts in those states, and President Donald Trump has not conceded.
More than a year ago, Biden infamously declared the firearms industry to be “the enemy.” Part of his gun control scheme would remove protections from the industry against frivolous “junk” lawsuits. Those legal actions have been described as financial harassment that cost gunmakers millions of dollars two decades ago, resulting in the federal law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
The legal strategy was designed to bankrupt firearms manufacturers.
During Barack Obama’s presidency, gun sales were also brisk. However, while Trump has been in office sales seemed to level off except for the past eight months. In addition to the coronavirus pandemic panic, weeks and months of civil unrest that included destructive riots in several major cities in reaction to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis also fueled gun sales. Efforts to “defund the police” as demanded by far left extremists added even more momentum to gun sales.
