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Why do Americans support the second amendment?

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Just another addition to the number of unfortunate deaths caused by gun violence in America. Today, the Voice singer Christina grimmie was shot dead by a random person while she was signing autographs for her fans after finishing her concert in Orlando.

While there has been condolences for her untimely death, still people refuse to support the gun prohibition laws in America saying things like "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", etc..

What is the exact reason why a lot of Americans seem to support the 2nd amendment laws in the USA?

I guess they have become numb to these things and don't realise the difference since it's been a part of their constitution for so many long years. But even then I'm unable to see the point behind the arms bearing laws in America.

Views from American ppers are welcome..
 
Amazing that some people can castigate Islam for having "outdated laws" but when it comes to guns - the law of the jungle - its sacrosanct!
 
This is what a Liberal American told me once and he was a young guy:

That first they will take away your guns and then the right to guns will remain only with the authorities easy to crush any rebellion.This was during the Occupy Wall street year so you can see from where it was coming.

Plus the republicans old voters believe in their olden ways of hunting,fishing where having Guns is reqired for hunting.

I'm not justifying their laws but saying what goes on in the liberal and conservative mindset might actually be the same.

Plus the good old Firearm Lobby will not let it go away.
 
I would personally keep a gun in my house for protection

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On a recent holiday to Alaska I was on a boat with a American lady and we started chatting about the differences between Australia and the US and when I asked how she felt about the gun laws she said she was carrying a gun in her handbag and didn't feel safe without it. I told her how I grew up with guns due to my fathers work but they were strictly controlled and knowing she had a gun in her handbag made me feel unsafe.

And that was the difference, she felt unsafe without a gun because she could not protect herself and I believe you can only be safe if there is no gun.
 
Nothing wrong with owning a gun if u want to for protection. The important thing is to have extremely comprehensive screening checks.
 
What is the exact reason why a lot of Americans seem to support the 2nd amendment laws in the USA?

In case King George III comes back for another go. Oh wait....

In case the federal Government becomes tyrannical. It's nonsensical, as the US Army would roll over a few militiamen like the tide.

If out in the sticks with law enforcement is an hour away I would have a gun in my house, though. Or in case a rattlesnake or a bear came into my yard.
 
Let's not forget that the British sent plenty of criminals to America as well and not just Australia.

Not sure if the offspring of the prison population is qualified enough to carry firearms.

Whilst it is true that the guns don't kill people but people do, time has proven it over and over again that the Americans are simply not capable enough to handle them.
 
America is a pseudo first world country. In reality Americans act like people from third world country. Americans like to act superior and think they are the best but the reality is that they are not. Everyone hates Americans and they are good reasons for that. America is a terrible country.
 
On a recent holiday to Alaska I was on a boat with a American lady and we started chatting about the differences between Australia and the US and when I asked how she felt about the gun laws she said she was carrying a gun in her handbag and didn't feel safe without it. I told her how I grew up with guns due to my fathers work but they were strictly controlled and knowing she had a gun in her handbag made me feel unsafe.

And that was the difference, she felt unsafe without a gun because she could not protect herself and I believe you can only be safe if there is no gun.

Segregation is the reason. Australia doesn't have any ghettos or a well segregated places. In some part of the US whites and Black kids still go to different schools and proms.
 
America is a pseudo first world country. In reality Americans act like people from third world country. Americans like to act superior and think they are the best but the reality is that they are not. Everyone hates Americans and they are good reasons for that. America is a terrible country.

What do you mean by act like third world country?

We are third world because of economical reasons. Not because we are savages from some jungle.
 
What do you mean by act like third world country?

We are third world because of economical reasons. Not because we are savages from some jungle.

I use the wrong choice of words there. I meant Americans' mentality is similar to people from third world countries.
 
They have been brainwashed into believing that without guns (especially the South), then they are in danger. The media has perpetuated the narrative that guns are important, and that they are essential to that which makes them American. If someone comes into one's house, they are under the false impression that a gun will save them, not realizing that now with access to a gun, that person can infiltrate their houses more easily as well. What this causes is those without guns are put into peril.

Furthermore, the fallacy is guns are used against bad people, when in fact one is more likely to use it against a family member if they have it.

Humans are emotional beings, when the emotions overtake us, we try to find external ways to channel it. My life is bad, I am suicidal? It's difficult to kill yourself in other ways, takes time, and effort, at which point you may second guess, a gun though, pick up, finished.

Americans have been taught it is a requirement, and more than that, that it is a right. Similar to the child with a toy they never play with. If you take it away, or give it to someone else, even if they dislike it, then they want it right then and there. It is a power play.
 
They have been brainwashed into believing that without guns (especially the South), then they are in danger. The media has perpetuated the narrative that guns are important, and that they are essential to that which makes them American. If someone comes into one's house, they are under the false impression that a gun will save them, not realizing that now with access to a gun, that person can infiltrate their houses more easily as well. What this causes is those without guns are put into peril.

Furthermore, the fallacy is guns are used against bad people, when in fact one is more likely to use it against a family member if they have it.

Humans are emotional beings, when the emotions overtake us, we try to find external ways to channel it. My life is bad, I am suicidal? It's difficult to kill yourself in other ways, takes time, and effort, at which point you may second guess, a gun though, pick up, finished.

Americans have been taught it is a requirement, and more than that, that it is a right. Similar to the child with a toy they never play with. If you take it away, or give it to someone else, even if they dislike it, then they want it right then and there. It is a power play.

I see it a bit different, Americans have guns ingrained into their culture not only due to the general warfare against the Indians but also because they encountered bears, wolves and wildcats so they needed that protection. In the early days having a gun would have been a must for protection. In Australia guns were not needed because there are no animals that are dangerous except for crocs but they are restricted to the top half and easy to avoid. Australians don't have the culture of carrying guns are feel at ease unarmed. I think its more the environment that dictates why guns are important to Americans.
 
I see it a bit different, Americans have guns ingrained into their culture not only due to the general warfare against the Indians but also because they encountered bears, wolves and wildcats so they needed that protection. In the early days having a gun would have been a must for protection. In Australia guns were not needed because there are no animals that are dangerous except for crocs but they are restricted to the top half and easy to avoid. Australians don't have the culture of carrying guns are feel at ease unarmed. I think its more the environment that dictates why guns are important to Americans.

Disagree.

Canada has more wildlife than the US but has never had guns as a big part of their culture.

That can be said of many nations worldwide who do not hold guns today. The forefathers wanted guns, the media has perpetuated a narrative that it is still needed today without any real basis (as it was once a joke that what if the King of England came knocking at ones door, how would you defend yourself).
 
NRA is richer than most countries in the world. The American arm industry runs in the 100s of billions. They have politicians in their pocket and have been into propaganda for centuries. It is no different than a religious cult. Centuries of brainwashing, listening to things right from childhood, advertisements, stories, culture, everything results in the average American believing that guns are a necessity and a right. This is ingrained into people's psyche and extremely difficult to change.

When even third world countries where crime and murder run rife do not believe that guns are necessary, A first world country like America believes you need killing machines for your own safety. However, most of the time we see accidental deaths, increase in suicide, more casualties in crime like robbery because of the easy availability of firearms. While the rest of the world has moved on, Americans are stuck with this thinking
 
Amazing that some people can castigate Islam for having "outdated laws" but when it comes to guns - the law of the jungle - its sacrosanct!

ha ha, you have no idea. we are absurder than you can imagine.

an overwhelming number of americans are idiots when it comes to logic and transparent laws. what is more troubling is that we take pride in our stupidity at times.
 
I think one of the problems is that America is basically a country of immigrants from all over the world that came together over a century ago. There is a lot of baggage which comes along with that, and a lot of different cultures clashing and fighting for their own corner.

In other countries like the UK, Canada and Australia, immigrants weren't allowed in wholesale until they started getting destroyed in the global marketplace by the US. On the plus side though, that has allowed countries like Australia to cherry pick immigrants from all over the globe today while not having any of the hangover from two centuries of disparate immigration.
 
America is a pseudo first world country. In reality Americans act like people from third world country. Americans like to act superior and think they are the best but the reality is that they are not. Everyone hates Americans and they are good reasons for that. America is a terrible country.
USA is better than UK, at least.
 
The right to self defence is a basic , human , universal right. People should be allowed to have a gun in their house to protect themselves & their family.

The problem is the types of powerful guns available , allowed to carry on the streets in many areas & the first amendment . It's backward mentality to allow a group to stand with guns on the street shouting abuse & hate towards others , while not breaking any law .
 
America is a pseudo first world country. In reality Americans act like people from third world country. Americans like to act superior and think they are the best but the reality is that they are not. Everyone hates Americans and they are good reasons for that. America is a terrible country.

This is the very same generalization people use against Muslims, you're really no different.
 
I'll try to explain. Firstly, the Second Amendment was drafted in the first years of post-colonial America, an era where the idea of a standing army - like that of the recently expelled British - evoked deep mistrust so well armed state militias were seen as protection against tyrannical government. There's also a rich history of outdoorsmanship in America. Kids, especially in rural areas, grow up with their dad hunting and fishing, and being trained to use guns is seen as a rite of passage into adulthood.

The problem is over time the NRA have distorted the Second Amendment - which is the right to bear arms within a well regulated militia - to mean one has unfettered individual right to a gun. Yet there is not a single word about an individual’s right to a gun for self-defence or recreation in Madison's notes from the Constitutional Convention. Four times between 1876 and 1939, the US Supreme Court declined to rule that the Second Amendment protected individual gun ownership outside the context of a militia. Even right-wing judges like Robert Bork agree. The former Chief Justice Warren Burger describes the NRA's interpretation as "one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Congress won't do anything as they're bought off by the NRA, plus the NRA run effective propaganda campaigns in the constituencies of lawmakers who propose gun control. The NRA is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the gun manufacturers. Notice how gun sales soar after every mass shooting as clowns like Wayne LaPierre come out with their talking points that Obama is on a secret mission to take your guns away. Every tragedy for them is a money making enterprise, hence they reject even the most common sense gun safety legislation like federal background checks which even the right-wing demigod himself Ronald Reagan supported !
 
Nothing wrong with owning a gun if u want to for protection. The important thing is to have extremely comprehensive screening checks.

How can one be sure that the person who acquired the gun for self defence will not use it to attack someone?

The only reason Afghanistan is in a mess is that almost anyone can own a gun , so the people who don't have guns and don't want will always be vulnerable .

Only the police, army and other security forces should own guns.


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This is again one of the strong Conservative and Bible Belt's core tenants... For them guns and Bible goes hand in hand...Liberals stands on Gun is vastly different most of them want gun control...

NRA is strong in Bible Belt as Jesus is there, this is what happen when you are not willing to change with time, conservatives are like that, they want to preserve every thing without thinking through... Why one person would need a weapon in civilized society to shoot 700 rounds per minute?? - One person can kill 50/70 people in minutes, this is no self defense, are we in war zone?? :po:

Gun supports are American Talibans... America is still very divided country, conservatives are living off of the prosperity by liberal and free thinking culture, yet want to destroy it every opportunity :faceplam:
 
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This law has no relevance in current era.
 
America is a country that was created by a revolution and not because of cultural difference or religious difference (it's not even because of geographic difference - Canada and Australia remained loyal to Britain well into the 20th century).

America was created by people rebelling against a tyrannical government which is why distrust of government is a major cultural thing in the United States (well beyond pretty much every other country).
The second amendments exists that government could not take weapons away from the citizens and that citizens could always have the right to join up in mass and rebel again.

Of course the difference in power between government and ordinary militias/rebels has drastically changed since and there is no way that a civilian based militia could match the military but the cultural support has remained.

People in general hate things that they believe they are entitled to getting taken away from them.
 
America is a country that was created by a revolution and not because of cultural difference or religious difference (it's not even because of geographic difference - Canada and Australia remained loyal to Britain well into the 20th century).

America was created by people rebelling against a tyrannical government which is why distrust of government is a major cultural thing in the United States (well beyond pretty much every other country).
The second amendments exists that government could not take weapons away from the citizens and that citizens could always have the right to join up in mass and rebel again.

Of course the difference in power between government and ordinary militias/rebels has drastically changed since and there is no way that a civilian based militia could match the military but the cultural support has remained.

People in general hate things that they believe they are entitled to getting taken away from them.

This is a good explanation

Also another aspect people overlook is the need for communities to have militias in the olden days to stave off attacks by American Indian populations...

the law is fine but needs to be adjusted. Semi automatic weapons and the like need to be banned
 
This is a good explanation

Also another aspect people overlook is the need for communities to have militias in the olden days to stave off attacks by American Indian populations...

the law is fine but needs to be adjusted. Semi automatic weapons and the like need to be banned

The law is not fine in any shape or form. Guns do not belong in the civilian population who are not trained , at least mentally, to handle them. A fit of rage thrown by a person weilding a gun can get somebody killed.

The most common excuse you hear from US people is that having guns can protect them from criminals. Thats bullocks in my opinion because even the criminals arent supposed to have guns. Its the responsibility of the state to take away these guns from anybody and everybody, including the criminals. The state and only the state should have coercive power.

I remember a strange interview of a Taliban spokesperson which was done by a news channel from USA. Cant remember much of the details because it was way back in mid 2000s, more than a decade ago. The news anchor asked the taliban spokesperson why the taliban were forcing civilians to give up their guns to which the spokesperson replied that they cannot allow anyone except the protectors of law to weild guns. The anchor seemed befuddled as if it was some human right which had been taken away from people. It is safe to say gun culture is real and any excuse to justify is just that, an excuse.
 
This is a good explanation

Also another aspect people overlook is the need for communities to have militias in the olden days to stave off attacks by American Indian populations...

the law is fine but needs to be adjusted. Semi automatic weapons and the like need to be banned
How is the law fine in the current scenario? What value does it add to the society?
 
This is a good explanation

Also another aspect people overlook is the need for communities to have militias in the olden days to stave off attacks by American Indian populations...

the law is fine but needs to be adjusted. Semi automatic weapons and the like need to be banned

I went on a hunting trip in Texas. My group carried two semiautomatic rifles, one of which fought in WW2. There are packs of feral hogs which are known to attack and eat hunters. So SLRs in rural areas make a degree of sense to me. I was given a bolt-action rifle - they thought I was less likely to blow my own foot off that way....
 
2 dead, over 20 injured in banquet hall shooting in Florida: Police

The gunfire erupted early Sunday at the El Mula Banquet Hall in northwest Miami-Dade County, near Hialeah, police told news outlets.

Two people died and an estimated 20 to 25 people were injured in a shooting outside a banquet hall in South Florida, police said.

The gunfire erupted early Sunday at the El Mula Banquet Hall in northwest Miami-Dade County, near Hialeah, police told news outlets.

The banquet hall had been rented out for a concert. Three people got out of an SUV and opened fire on the crowd outside, police director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III said. Authorities believe the shooting was targeted.

“These are cold blooded murderers that shot indiscriminately into a crowd and we will seek justice,” Ramirez said in a tweet.

Two people died at the scene, police said. As many as 25 people went to various hospitals for treatment.

No arrests were immediately announced.

“This is a despicable act of gun violence, a cowardly act,” Ramirez told the Miami Herald.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/2-dead-over-20-injured-in-banquet-hall-shooting-in-florida-police-101622373816445.html
 
It was originally to rise against government tyranny, which I find admirable.

One of the first comments was a typical victim-minded one, saying 'b-b-but Islam!'. Islam (as well as Christianity and Judaism)does have some backwards ideas. You can't compare slavery, hudud, jizya (which was meant to be a sign of kufr and disgrace), etc to being able to own guns. A better comparison is that guns are seen as a right, but healthcare isn't. To me, that is an indefensible position.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/31/us-gun-sales-rise-pandemic

Gun sales, which spiked sharply during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, have continued to increase in the United States, with first-time buyers making up more than one-fifth of Americans who purchased guns.

The development will frustrate and disappoint gun control advocates who point out the huge number of firearms already circulating in American society as well as a seemingly never-ending cycle of mass shootings.

A study by the General Social Survey, a public opinion poll conducted by a research center at the University of Chicago, 39% of American households own guns, up from 32% in 2016.

Separately, research data compiled by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), background checks that topped 1m a week in March 2020 – the highest since the government began tracking them in 1998 – and continued, with one week in April this year recording a record 1.2m checks. Background checks are seen as a reliable metric to track gun sales.

A third data study, compiled by Northeastern University and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and seen by the New York Times, shows that 6.5% of US adults, or 17 million people, have purchased guns in the past year, up from 5.3% in 2019.

Of those, almost one fifth who bought guns last year were first-time gun owners of whom half were women, a fifth were Black and a fifth were Hispanic, challenging the stereotype of white male gun owners building personal arsenals. In 2021, gun owners overall were 63% male, 73% were white, 10% were Black and 12% Hispanic.

Separately, The Trace, a non-partisan group that tracks guns sales, estimates 2.3m guns were purchased in January alone. Sales, which had remained largely flat for the duration of the Trump presidency, jumped 64% in 2020, the group said.

Still, the increases are relatively small compared to the 400m guns estimated to already be in circulation, including at least 4m AR-15s, commonly described as assault rifles.

“Americans are in an arms race with themselves,” South Los Angeles city council representative Marqueece Harris-Dawson told the New York Times. “There was just as much a run on guns as on toilet paper in the beginning of the pandemic.”

Increased gun sales comes as Texas this month became the 20th state to pass legislation that no longer requires a permit to carry a concealed handgun. At the same time, a rash of mass-shootings, often involving AR-15 weapons have dominated headlines.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, 67 mass shootings have taken place in May of this year. The most recent occurred on Sunday when a gunman opened fire in Miami, killing two people and injuring 20 others. Authorities in Texas said on Monday they had arrested a man accused of plotting to carry out a mass shooting at a Walmart, and a search of the suspect’s home turned up firearms, ammunition and materials officials described as “radical ideology paraphernalia”.

Still, researchers are wary of connecting increased gun ownership with gun violence. The FBI reported a 25% rise in homicides last year that has continued into this with an 18% increase over the first three months of 2021 across 37 cities, including rises of 36% in Los Angeles and 23% in New York.

But criminologist Richard Rosenfeld at the University of Missouri told the New York Times that the focus on gun numbers is misplaced. “The critical issue is not simply the increase in the supply of guns but in the nature of the weaponry that’s being used in violent crime, and that has really changed,” he said.
 
Psychopaths are inevitable in a society, no matter where you live. You need some kind of a lethal protection against these people, something less messier and a quick way to neutralize the situation. And they also make up a large portion of political leaders.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-girl-boy-armed-with-ak-47-shootout-with-deputies-2021-06-02/

Two children in Florida ran away from a group home, broke into a house and engaged in a shootout with law enforcement officers responding to the scene, authorities said on Wednesday.

A 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl found guns inside a home they broke into in Enterprise, Florida, and fired on sheriff's deputies, the Volusia County sheriff's office said in a statement.

The girl was shot and wounded after she pointed a shotgun at deputies.

"The 12-year-old boy, armed with an AK-47, finally put down his weapon shortly thereafter and was not injured," the sheriff's statement said.

Body cam footage released on Wednesday showed deputies hiding behind trees as shots rang out around them. The footage of when the girl was shot was blurred. The audio of the video painted a frantic scene as deputies rushed to provide medical aid to the girl, who was screaming in pain.

She underwent surgery and was in stable condition, authorities said. No sheriff's deputies were hurt in the Tuesday night shooting.

Unspecified charges against the children are pending, according to the sheriff's department.

The children had run away from Florida United Methodist Children's Home in Enterprise on Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff's department said.

A few hours later, they broke into a home. Passersby reported hearing glass breaking at the home, and alerted the deputies.

The officers surrounded the home. At that point gunfire erupted from the house, the sheriff's statement said. The home contained a handgun, a shotgun and the AK-47, along with a large amount of ammunition.

Over the course of 35 minutes there were four exchanges of gunfire.

"Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate, and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old," said Volusia County sheriff Mike Chitwood.

The sheriff said the girl had a record and last year was arrested for lighting several vacant lots on fire.

During a Wednesday press conference, Chitwood blasted Florida's juvenile justice system as being broken. He noted that violent teenage offenders are often put into group homes not trained to handle them. He said the girl involved in the shooting should not have been placed in the home she escaped from.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-federal-judge-overturns-californias-ban-assault-weapons-2021-06-05/

A U.S. federal judge overturned California's 32-year-old ban on assault weapons on Friday, describing it as a "failed experiment" and prompting scathing criticism from the state's governor and attorney general.

California has prohibited the sale of assault weapons since 1989. The ban was challenged in a 2019 lawsuit against California's attorney general by plaintiffs including James Miller, a state resident, and the San Diego County Gun Owners, a political action committee.

"This case is about what should be a muscular constitutional right and whether a state can force a gun policy choice that impinges on that right with a 30-year-old failed experiment," judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California wrote in the court order filed late on Friday.

"Government is not free to impose its own new policy choices on American citizens where Constitutional rights are concerned," the order added.

"It is declared that these statutes unconstitutionally infringe the Second Amendment rights of California citizens," the court filing concluded. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees citizens the right to bear arms.

The federal judge said that he had granted a 30-day stay of the ruling at the request of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a move that would allow Bonta to appeal it.

"Today's decision is fundamentally flawed, and we will be appealing it," Bonta said in a statement.

Seven states, including California, and the District of Columbia have enacted laws banning assault weapons, according to the Giffords Law Center, a gun-control group.

Gun control is a politically divisive subject in the United States, which has experienced a significant number of deadly mass shootings at schools and other public venues for decades.

California Governor Gavin Newsom described Friday's overturning of the ban on assault weapons as a direct threat to public safety and called it a "disgusting slap" in the face to those who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

"The fact that this judge compared the AR-15 – a weapon of war that's used on the battlefield – to a Swiss army knife completely undermines the credibility of this decision," the governor said in a statement.

"Like the Swiss army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment," the judge had said in the order filed on Friday.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/01/us-gun-dealers-ammunition-shortage-sales-surge

The coronavirus pandemic in the US has been accompanied by soaring gun sales attributed to fears around social unrest and crime and, in some cases, people having more time for hunting. But now ammunition has fallen into short supply.

Manufacturers say they are producing as much as they can but in many gun stores shelves are sparse and prices are concurrently rising.

“We have had a number of firearms instructors cancel their registration to our courses because their agency was short on ammo or they were unable to find ammo to purchase,” Jason Wuestenberg, executive director of the National Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association, told the Associated Press.

In April 2020, at A&J Arms in Bardonia, New York, firearms dealer Arden Frazin told the Guardian his stock of military-style AR-15 rifles had sold out, with two-dozen on back order.

On Saturday, he said: “You need to remember that 8m or 9m guns were sold to first-time buyers during the pandemic. So that’s two boxes of ammo each, or 800m new bullets, and that has nothing to do with people who already had guns.”

The ammunition most in demand, Frazin said, includes 12-gauge shotgun shells, 9mm bullets suitable for a handgun and .556 bullets suitable for military-style rifles.

“We have 10 or 15 distributors and the factories are running 24-7 but we still cant keep up with demand,” he said. “They can charge whatever they like and we can’t get (anything).”

Ari Freilich, of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told AP: “Early on in the pandemic, we saw people hoarding toilet paper, disinfectant. Now it’s ammo.”

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, more than 50m people participate in shooting sports in the US. The NSSF estimates 20m guns were sold in 2020.

The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System database also documented an increase in sales. In 2010, there were 14.4m background checks for gun purchases. That jumped to almost 39.7m in 2020 and 22.2m through June 2021.

Frazin said he thought part of the demand for ammunition centered on fears that the Biden administration could raise federal taxes on gun purchases, a concern promulgated by gun advocacy groups during the Obama administration that led to a similar run on guns and ammunition.

To make up for domestic-production shortages, imports of ammunition from Russia, South Korea, the European Union and other sources were up 225% over the past two years, according to an analysis by Panjiva, which tracks global trade.

In Nanuet, New York on Saturday, a similar story of demand and shortage was told at Good Guys Guns & Ammo. Manager Joe O’Healy said ammunition sales had increased tenfold and deliveries of 10,000 rounds were selling out within three days.

“It’s this mass pandemic fear around arming the nation,” he said. “We see things we’ve never seen before, like single moms with strollers and grandmas buying shotguns.”

O’Healy said new buyers were not necessarily conservatives.

“We’ve had people in here with Biden-Harris masks saying they want something small for their purse. We have to say, ‘Sorry, lady, it takes eight to 18 months to get a handgun permit.”

Such customers get mad, O’Healy said. “Everybody is excited to control stuff until it controls you. We say, ‘Well, you voted for stricter gun controls. So get in line and join everybody else.’”

Ammunition shortages have reportedly affected law enforcement but not the US military. However, the US Army 2022 budget calls for cuts to ammunition purchasing. Overall such spending next year could be $2.1bn, down from $2.8bn.

Consumer shortages comes as some big retailers have moved to reduce sales amid political pressure. In 2019, a month after 22 people were killed in a mass shooting at a store in El Paso, Texas, Walmart said it would halve its market share by discontinuing sales of ammunition for handguns and military-style weapons.

That proved a boon for sellers like O’Healy.

“In the first six to nine months of the pandemic we sold out of firearms and ammunition every time we got them,” he said. “We couldn’t order enough. Now, everybody who wanted a gun got one and it’s starting to calm down.”

“It’s been great for business,” he said.
 
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