Pandemic fears led tens of thousands of Californians to buy guns, study finds
If you are more worried about violence during the coronavirus pandemic, you have company, research shows.
Tens of thousands of Californians bought firearms during the coronavirus pandemic, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found after conducting a survey from July 14-27 of 2,870 adults in California.
They found that worry about violence has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, they said in findings that have not yet been peer-reviewed.
“Pandemic-related loss contributed to concern that someone else might physically harm themselves on purpose,” the researchers wrote. “An estimated 110,000 people acquired firearms due to the pandemic (2.4% of firearm owners in the state), including approximately 47,000 new owners.”
People who already owned guns changed the way they stored them, the researchers said. Nearly 7% of owners started storing firearms loaded and not locked in response to the pandemic, according to the researchers.
“Violence is a significant public health problem that touches the lives of far more people than is typically recognized,” the researchers wrote. “The coronavirus pandemic and efforts to lessen its spread have compounded this burden.”
Poverty, unemployment, isolation and hopelessness contribute to violence. Those things have also intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers said. Worry about violence increased for nearly all types of violence during the pandemic, except for worry about mass shootings.
“More than 1 in 10 respondents were concerned that someone they know might intentionally harm another person (12.2%) or themselves (13.1%),” the researchers said. “Of those concerned about self-harm for someone else, 7.5% said it was because the person had suffered a pandemic-related loss.”
During the pandemic, nearly 220,000 people have died in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins. States have gone in and out of stay-at-home orders, and many have struggled with job security.
In California, the state’s unemployment rate in August was 11.4%, the nation’s fifth highest, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Massive protests against police brutality have broken out across the country as well, and the political environment is also tense.
The findings in UC Davis’ study mirror national trends. In June, a record 3.9 million background checks associated with firearm sales set records, McClatchy News reported. It was the most of any month since the FBI began tracking the data.
Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Florida and California had conducted the most background checks at that point in the year, according to McClatchy News.
“Firearm sales go up in times of uncertainty because Americans know their safety is ultimately in their own hands,” National Rifle Association spokesperson Amy Hunter told the outlet in March, according to McClatchy News.