Look, California isn’t exactly a haven for Second Amendment rights. What am I saying? It’s a total anti-gun hellhole, where the taxes are high and its fetish with green energy has also led to rolling blackouts across the state. Yeah, that latter part is very much like Venezuela. It’s pathetic. Still, even with California’s anti-gun regime hasn’t stopped people from buying guns—a lot of guns. Even with a so-called ban on ‘assault weapons’ and magazine limits, Golden State residents have stocked up on whatever is legal in the state. It started with the lockdown protocols due to COVID and has remained strong ever since. Stephen Gutowski of the Washington Free Beacon wrote about how more people in the state have owned guns than ever before—and the lion share is made up of first-time owners (via Free Beacon):
According to a new study, Californians have bought guns at a record pace, many for the first time, despite recent gun-store shutdowns.
The study, which a group of researchers at the University of California released in October, found that pandemic-caused uncertainty has led to increased demand for firearms in the deep blue state.
First-time owners accounted for 47,000 of the 110,000 people who bought a gun during the onset of the pandemic, the study concluded.
The study also identified several motivations, including initial gun-store lockdowns, for those buyers.
"The most common reason given for firearm acquisition in response to the pandemic was worry about lawlessness…, followed by worry about prisoner releases…, the government going too far…, government collapse…, and gun stores closing," the study's authors wrote. "Reasons for ammunition purchases in response to the pandemic were similar."
The study provides further evidence that new gun owners have driven the past seven months' record-breaking surge in gun sales, both in California and nationwide.
It also shows that despite long waits and gun-store shutdowns at the beginning of the pandemic, tens of thousands of Californians persisted to become first-time gun owners.
It’s in keeping with the overall trend this year, where some 10 million Americans became first-time gun owners. Will these people vote Republican? We’ll see. If you think this could turn California blue, you’re over reaching, I think. Now, regarding congressional races, it could yield some dividends. No doubt this group could have an impact, but there’s the other narrative, which is that even though these are new gun owners, they still value health care and other issues more and could break for Democrats. Pennsylvania has scores of gun owners being a big hunting state. Before Trump flipped it in 2016, the last time the state had gone Republican was 1988.
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