Pandemic Fears Tied to California Gun Sale Surge

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Citing fears over violence and chaos, more than 100,000 Californians have bought guns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study estimates.

Researchers said the findings add to evidence that the U.S. pandemic has sparked firearm “panic-buying.” Early on, federal figures showed a spike in background checks, while some online firearm retailers reported soaring sales, according to Giffords, a gun violence prevention group.

The new study went beyond numbers, asking gun buyers about their motivations, said lead researcher Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, an assistant professor with the University of California, Davis, Violence Prevention Research Program.

And it found that fear of violence and societal breakdown was the main driver.

The findings come from an ongoing California survey on firearm ownership and exposure to violence. Among 2,870 adults statewide, about 2.5% said they’d bought a firearm due to the pandemic.

That, according to Kravitz-Wirtz, translated to an estimated 110,000 gun purchases for the whole state. And it included 47,000 by first-time buyers.

Most buyers pointed to fears over “lawlessness” (76%), prison releases (56%), the government “going too far” (49%), or the government “collapsing” (38%).

The rise in firearm access is concerning, Kravitz-Wirtz said, because “extensive research” shows that having a gun in the home increases the risks of accidents, suicide and homicide — particularly where a woman is the victim.

Those risks could be further heightened now, at a time of widespread anxiety, unemployment and social isolation, according to Kravitz-Wirtz.

For mental health experts, the big concern is suicide, said Debbie Plotnick, vice president of state and federal advocacy for the nonprofit Mental Health America.

Two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides, she said. And access to a firearm greatly raises the odds that a suicide attempt will end in death.

With the pandemic taking a widespread mental health toll, experts fear it will all result in an increase in suicides, Plotnick said.

Since January, she noted, the Mental Health America website has seen a surge in traffic to its free screening tools for conditions like anxiety and depression. And many visitors are young people under age 24.