San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Gun, bunker sales surging in Texas
In times of uncertainty, many rush to buy bread, eggs and milk. In Texas, they’re lining up to buy guns and safety bunkers.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” said Ron Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival Shelters, which is headquartered an hour east of Dallas in Sulphur Springs.
Gun sales rose 80 percent in May compared to a year ago, according to data released by Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, a consulting firm that tracks the global small arms and ammunition markets.
It’s been a particularly anxious 2020, with the outbreak of COVID-19 shuttering the economy for months followed by a wave of protests across the U.S. after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd’s asphyxiation has resurfaced widespread concerns of systemic racism among police.
Hubbard said people want plan B if things get worse.
“The protests are just another reason in the pile of why people want a bunker this year,” he said. “They want somewhere to hide their family in case of looters.”
Hubbard, who has mre than 250,000 subscribers on YouTube, said the average price of a bunker he sells is $75,000, but they start in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.
“Why should only millionaires survive?” he said.
Rising S Company, a Murchison-based bunker and bomb shelter manufacturer, made a sale last week to a customer motivated by
a protest concerns, said manager Gary Lynch.
“They’re scared of war on their own territory,” he said.
Like with bunkers, gun sales typically go up when people are nervous about protecting themselves.
B.E.A.R. Gun Shop in Corsicana has seen about five times the sales that it made in the same period last year, said owner Arlen Swartzentruber. The store is already maxed out — selling as many guns as they get in — yet they fully expect sales to increase, he said.
“When the question marks come out about the future, gun sales go up,” he said.
Swartzentruber said he’s also not seeing his typical buyers. Females usually make up about 10 percent of his buyers, but since the COVID-19 outbreak, they’ve accounted for about 40 percent of his customers. And when shutdowns swept the country in March, over half of his customers for the month were first-time buyers.
“Back then, people were fighting over toilet paper and people didn’t know how long the shortages would last or if they’d be able to feed their families and protect their house,” he said.
Top-selling guns have been the Glock 17 and Glock 19 handguns, as well as the AR-15 rifle. He said these guns have been industry leaders for a while and are now next to impossible to find.
Ray’s Hardware and Sporting Goods store in Dallas said it had 30 to 40 people waiting in line Tuesday after the protests.
general