Gun sales surge as more feel desperate
Bethtina Woodridge walked out of a Martinez sporting goods store Wednesday morning holding something increasingly popular in the Bay Area — and around California. The small, rectangular black box held a Glock 19, a pistol to accompany the pair of shotguns she and her wife bought in September.
Like most of the dozen customers at that hour who strolled in and out of Canyon Sports — a gun store inside a warehouse — Woodridge said she was buying the firearms for protection during what has become for many an unnerving period in modern American life.
As the pandemic sows misery and desperation, as social unrest grips the nation and on the cusp of a divisive, frantic presidential election, an increasing number of Californians appear to be assuaging a sense of insecurity by buying guns, research suggests.
“They’re for home defense,” Woodridge said. “Things are getting crazy, and they may be getting crazier.”
Woodridge, 44, who lives in Oakland, said breakins and holdups at people’s homes are her biggest concern and that she worries about being able to protect her wife and son.
“With COVID and people getting more desperate all the time, we started to get ready,” she said.
So have an increasing number of Californians, according to a recent report from UC Davis School of Medicine researchers, who looked at the impact of the coronavirus crisis on firearm purchases, reasons for buying guns and how new gun owners store their weapons.
Their analysis found that an estimated 110,000 Californians have purchased firearms because of the pandemic and that nearly half — 47,000 — are new gun owners. Many said the pandemic increased their concerns they’d become victims of violence.
It also found that 55,000 gun owners prefer to keep them at the ready, not locked in a gun safe or other secure location as recommended by safety experts.
In the parking lot of Canyon Sports, Matt Johnson of Pinole said he bought his first pistol because “It’s been a bad year all around. I think everybody’s nervous about what may happen with protests and voting and such. I think it’s more people being cautious than being scared.”
Surveys of nearly 3,000 Californians by the researchers suggested “worry about multiple types of violence ... increased during the pandemic,” according to the report.
“Conditions that contribute to violence — poverty, unemployment, lack of available resources, isolation, hopelessness, and loss — have intensified and are further compounded by the recent surge in firearm sales, which is itself a risk factor for firearmrelated harm,” the report said.
Bay Area gun store owners and employees interviewed by The Chronicle confirmed that gun sales are booming — up as much as 500%, according to Todd Richardson of Richardson Tactical in Hayward.
“Comparing year over year sales, it feels like it’s Christmas all year. That’s how much demand there is for firearms,” said Jeff, an employee at Elite Armory in Castro Valley. He declined to give his last name.
Demand is up so much, others said, that many display racks and stockrooms are empty, especially of handguns and shotguns, the most popular weapons for home defense. Manufacturing troubles, some pandemicrelated, may be contributing to the shortage, some retailers said.
“If we could get the inventory, we’d be selling them,” said Robert Weaver, who owns the Old West Gun Room in El Cerrito. “Mostly we have to turn them away because we can’t get the inventory. We refer them to other retailers, and hopefully they have some.”
Ammunition also is in short supply.
“We haven’t seen any of the most common calibers in months,” Jeff said.
Several other gun dealers confirmed that sales are up significantly. Several recorded outgoing voice mail messages saying they had too much business to pick up the phone or return calls.
An estimated 4.2 million Californians own guns — around 14% of adults in the state, according to a 2018 analysis. They collectively possess an estimated 19.9 million firearms, about half of which are owned by 10% of all gun owners in the state.
Another firearms study, by the Pew Research Center, found that 40% of Americans personally knew someone who had been shot.
The UC Davis report found concern over “lawlessness” drove almost 76% of those who bought new firearms.
Other reasons included prisoner releases, the government “going too far,” the government collapsing and gun stores closing.
So many new gun owners are seeking practice at Bay Area gun ranges, where pandemic safety regulations are in effect, that long lines are not uncommon. Most firing ranges now limit shooters to every other position on a range to maintain social distance.
Gun sellers said the increase in purchases started just before the coronavirus shutdown in March and picked back up when stores were allowed to reopen in the spring. Most buyers, especially firsttimers, cite personal defense of their homes and family as the reason.
“I think people are scared,” Richardson said. “With all the civil unrest and crap going on, you have to be able to defend yourself. And you still have a right to own weapons to defend yourself under the Second Amendment.”
Inside Canyon Sports, the walls are covered with taxidermied hunting trophies, most of them deer, as well as a big blue “Trump 2020” sign. That dismayed Woodridge, who considers herself a liberal and believes in the Second Amendment.
“I would like to buy from a store than has similar political values as mine,” she said. “But there are not a lot of choices. I have to reluctantly buy from places that have Trump signs.”
Still, Woodridge said, protecting herself and her family is paramount.
“I believe people have the right to buy guns and protect themselves,” she said.