In times of national peril, and when our rights are under immediate legislative threat, more Americans tend to buy guns. This, of course, is a very rational response, as a firearm, when used responsibly, can turn a potential victim into a self-reliant survivor.
Such is why this pandemic has convinced more people they need to be self-reliant, at least until the police can get there. But, right now, our rights as gun owners, and potential gun owners, are facing unprecedented peril in the form of Joe Biden, the presumptive presidential nominee for his party. Biden keeps reminding us if he wins the presidency he’ll immediately try to take Americans’ guns away. And not just so-called “assault weapons;” in fact, he has indicated he wants to move us toward banning every gun that is not a so-called “smart gun,” and he wants to appoint judges who don’t think the Second Amendment protects an individual right.
Okay, that needed to be said plainly before getting to the media’s spin as to why Americans are buying guns right now.
The mainstream media sees that the total economic impact of the firearm and ammunition industry in the U.S. increased from $19.1 billion in 2008, when Barack Obama first won the presidency, to $60 billion in 2019, a 213% increase in a dozen years. Meanwhile, the total number of full-time-equivalent jobs rose from approximately 166,000 to over 332,000, a 100% increase in that same period, according to a report from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
Then the mainstream media notices that gun sales in April spiked by more than 71.3% from the same month of the previous year. Around 1.7 million guns were sold in April, according to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). NICS checks are only a good indicator of sales, as not all checks result in sales, but whatever the actual number is, we know it is up, way up.
As more people embrace their freedom to possess firearms, these same people are likely to gain actual gun experience. They’ll seek out NRA-certified instructors and will go to gun ranges where they’ll run into normal gun owners. These experiences will likely impact these peoples’ views of gun ownership and the Second Amendment; after all, instead of only getting misinformation and outright mistruths about gun owners, they’ll find out firsthand what gun owners and gun ownership are really all about.
This frightens the groups, media members and politicians who blame guns, and law-abiding American gun owners, for the actions of criminals. It does this primarily because, when voters become educated about this issue, common sense tells us they’re more likely to vote for politicians who will protect their right to bear arms.
So now we come to the mainstream-media spin.
The far-left magazine Mother Jones tells us: “The NRA Is Stoking Coronavirus Panic to Boost Gun Sales.”
Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group, Everytown, thinks gun sales are racist. It says, “While NRA Board Members Use the Pandemic to Further Racist Narratives, Spread Conspiracy Theories, and Dismiss the Seriousness of Coronavirus, the NRA is Fear Mongering to Sell Guns.”
And, to highlight one local publication, an opinion piece in The Eagle, a newspaper located in Bryan, Texas, says, “Fear is the gun industry’s bread and butter.”
That negative spin on gun sales found its way into mainstream-media publications across America.
This is a sad and unfortunate way to view Americans. Once was, America’s media would be much more likely to look at the rise in gun sales and applaud Americans’ grit, self-reliance and can-do attitude. Now many in the mainstream media see individualism and resourcefulness as threats to government paternalism and control.
Small wonder why just 41% of Americans now have at least a “fair amount” of trust in the media, according to Gallup.
