Gun Stores in Bay Area Report Sales Increases
Jose Nino
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Coyote Point Armory, a gun store in Burlingame, California — a city in the Bay Area — has experienced an increase in sales in recent weeks.
“The ammo sales is up, we got wiped out over the weekend and I’m expecting a lot more ammo to come in later this week,” declared owner John Parkin.
The store has similarly experienced a higher rate of first-time gun purchasers — roughly a 25% increase, in the month of October.
Parkin claimed that this increase in gun sales was brought about by an increase in tensions at the local and global level.
“I just think people finally come to the realization that it doesn’t hurt to have a firearm in their home to protect themselves and their loved ones, a lot of people are on the fence,” he stated.
Other gun stores in the Bay Area have indicated that they’re witnessing a similar trend as instability flares up across the globe.
Many experts believe this trend will only heighten in the coming months as tensions between Israel and Hamas magnify.
“The violence that we’re witnessing in terms of the bombings and violence overseas is causing folks to take things into their own hands rather than really focusing on our shared humanity and the devastating loss on all of the victims in Gaza right now,” declared Dr. Jennifer Tran.
Tran is a professor of ethnic studies at Cal State East Bay and stated that during times of war, it’s easy for people to scapegoat others.
She also believes the conflict in the Middle East is just one of many factors behind gun sales.
“People are desperate in this moment and trying to make sure they are not another statistic and so the domestic landscape we’re looking for is layered with the challenges we face in this country around gun violence, the ongoing violence, for instance, AAPI hate,” Tran added.
There are many factors behind the record increase in gun sales. Overall, there is much more instability on the world stage than in years prior. As a result, people have lost faith in governing institutions across the board.
In turn, they will resort to arming themselves as a means of achieving personal security. When order breaks down, one can always expect for a power vacuum to be filled with some set of armed individuals.
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