“I’ve been here my whole life doing this,” said [Gun Room owner Shaun] Lacasse, whose father opened the [Portland, Oregon] store in 1965. “I’m 52 years old, I grew up behind this counter. I’ve never seen anything like yesterday.”
It’s impossible to know what proportion of the increased sales were from first-time buyers since that data is not collected. But Lacasse said most of his customers were buying their first firearm. And more than a few were nurses and doctors.
Asked what he thought people were scared of, Lacasse answered with a laugh, “Everything. They’re buying guns and ammunition so they can go home and sit on their couch and defend their stash of toilet paper from the pending apocalypse.”
Ultimately, he said, it’s all about feeling good. Buying guns — like buying toilet paper — is a type of pandemic retail therapy.
– Jonathan Levinson in Surge In Gun Purchases Leading To Concerns Of Violence During Pandemic