coronavirus gun sales store
People wait in line to enter gun seller Tanner's Sports Center in Jamison, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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Hey, you dumb rubes, turn on CNN! Educate yourselves a little! Don’t you know you can’t shoot the virus?! Why don’t you go get in line at a grocery store and buy some toilet paper?

Packing heat is not a helpful response to the crisis caused by COVID-19. It won’t be necessary to be armed to defend homes stocked with groceries and toilet paper. Things may be rough for a while, and inconvenient, but society will not collapse.

The panic rush to buy guns and ammo is not a helpful response to this crisis and increases the danger for all of us. Gun shop owners say much of the rush is attributable to a panic-buying mentality. There’s also been a spike in concealed-carry permit applications. Demand for guns and ammunition is emptying the shelves at many shops.

Apocalypse now. This dystopian view of the world may tell us that too many people watch too much television. Guns cannot stop COVID-19. The virus is the enemy.

– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board in Gun panic: Buying weapons, ammo is not the answer to COVID-19

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194 COMMENTS

  1. The only silver lining of the “plague”, is that people are beginning to understand that they need to start supporting themselves, protecting themselves and thinking for themselves. That scares the sh*t outta liberal politicians and MSM!

    • Right on! Folks should never think “oh that would never happen, and besides I’d just call the police”. Self sufficiency is the way to go if you can. Some folks can’t (old, sick, etc) but most of us can. And should. Those preppers don’t seem so strange now. And the Mormons with their philosophy of having food put aside in some form of storage system are looking pretty smart. We can all learn from this experience if we pay attention.

      • PATRON49IFT,

        It is really hard to pay attention when your primary concern is what the Kardashians are doing.

        • And for those who’s lifes priorities are in dealing drugs and getting high. Suddenly the 7-11 can’t be robbed because it has closed down with either no staff or stock. And then it’s TEOTWAWKI situation.

    • Amen. But more important hopefully some of these folks have finally truly “become woke” and seen a little light and will not vote for idiots that put forth these type of policies.

  2. Is Protecting yourself wrong…Is Protecting your family wrong…Tell the people who would try to hurt you…your family and try to take things away from you which is yours?
    Most people who carry are doing so to Protect themselves not to attack others…Tell the people who would attack you or cause harm to you to “NOT” do that…Tell the people who would attack you and cause you harm to “NOT” carry because they don’t have a Carry License…
    Police can’t always be there for you or be there fast enough to help you…You must rely on yourself…So please be safe…

    • Been carrying since June 1965, almost everyday with or with out paper work. Carried 3 years in Vietnam saw no sense in stopping when I got out.

    • Besides, guns we have. Guns we can buy. If you find a store with an ample supply of toilet paper I’d wager there’d be an even longer line there.

      • The point is the article doesn’t poke fun of those people. It was just an excuse to put down people the author doesn’t agree with. These are the same people always accusing others of bigotry. Typical hypocrites.

        • Better to have and not need than to need and not have. People choosing not to be responsible for protecting themselves telling others they shouldn’t. Have a constitutional right to do just that.

  3. Hay Pittsburgh Post-Gazette!
    Don’t you know your post internet rag is bankrupt and soon going to disappear❓
    Your fear of freedom and firearms doesn’t take away my rights.
    I guess post Apocalypse we can use your rag as TP❗

  4. Those people who were too stupid to stock food ahead of time may start to riot when they get desperate enough. A gun is a good way to protect against that.

    Obviously they don’t remember the violent riots at Ferguson and South Central LA.

    • “may start to riot when they get desperate enough”

      Sad, pathetic, small minded, fearful people. Forget the idea of working together to face a common enemy, just make sure you’ve got a gun so you can get yours.

      What a dark and fearful life you must lead, I pity you.

      • So you expect all those criminals being released are civic minded fellows who will work together to save humanity?

        • In Miner’s world they’re just misunderstood poor folk who’ve been caught in the gears of the white patriarchy/theocracy – victims of vicious exploitation who are only getting back what’s rightfully theirs – you know, just like Bernie says – and if we weren’t so recalcitrant about giving up our fair share plus being so stubborn about our so-called “rights” and just fell into line and did what we’re told we’d all be living in a worker’s paradise…or something, something, never have been able to figure out the end game for communist other than it seems the party officials lived pretty good compared to the proles…

        • Those criminals are being released because all the government leftists don’t want the responsibility of feeding and caring for them.

        • Right. And when they empty out the jails, all those former inmates will return to their well-stocked caches of supplies, too.

        • Huntmaster,

          Those criminals are being released because all the government leftists don’t want the responsibility of feeding and caring for them.


          !!! POW !!!

          That is the most powerful truth bomb that I have ever heard!

          We need to shout this from the street corners and the rooftops!

          This totally disproves that claim that government can and will provide for the masses. Rather, this event proves that government cannot or will not provide for the masses.

      • It’s not my fellow members of the community I really worry about. The outliers and likely soon to be released antisocial criminals on the other hand make the record sales for capital region gun stores perfectly sensible.

        • Threat assessments come in degrees d, I do not fully trust anyone outside of the kind group but I am a believer in enlightened self interest as well as religious groups to generally keep neighbors cooperative up until supplies get dangerously low. At that point you do the best you can with what you have.

      • You’re one to talk….. only a small pathetic mind could possibly think not being prepared for any situation is a bad thing….
        I know there has to be some other news site you can infect with your stupidity…. please go there and GTFO

      • I COMPLETELY agree we should work together to defeat the common enemy of tyranny and statism.

        In other words, those like you are the enemy of Liberty and should be treated as such.

      • People like you are either the first to go or the first to cry out for help. I’m sorry you don’t understand all the bad things in this world are done by people. I’m sorry you were insulated and unprepared for the real world.

        You should heed the old saying – – Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

      • Working together, miner, to face a common enemy? So you’re no longer going to criticise Trump and co-operate with his .gov?

        • “Feb. 26: “Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. … When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

          You may follow the Pied Piper of ego if you like, after all, he’s assured us that the number of cases now soon be zero, right?

        • So that whole working together for the greater good was just bs so you can try to look superior to us ‘bitter clingers’. Failed again.

        • “0352 says:
          March 22, 2020 at 17:23
          Miner49er,
          You are one clueless fool.”
          Stick around for a while and you’ll see that is Whiner49ers defining character trait.

      • That’s a weird way in which your mind works, miner. No one buys gun in a store to rob their neighbors. People are afraid that some dumb unprepared souls will get desperate and riot, so they want guns to be able to defend themselves and their families.
        It must be sad life with twisted worldview like yours. I pity you.

        • @Someone:

          “No one buys gun in a store to rob their neighbors.”

          I wouldn’t bet my last dollar on that. Maybe it doesn’t happen often, but NEVER???

    • Everyone should own how ever many guns and whatever quantities of ammo they care to. That’s their choice. I certainly do.

      But hell no, there is no breakdown of civilization happening or about to happen.

      The USA has a massive food producing industry. None of which is broken. People are panic buying at the supermarkets because they are fearful and acting foolishly. Toilet paper is just the most outlandish item they have gone nutso about. The butt wipe industry is not slowing down, is at no risk of slowing down and is entirely MADE IN USA … not China!

      Meanwhile, the many producers of the stuff that has been scooped off the store shelves have to decide if they are going to invest their cash reserves, or take out loans, to expand capacity over a short term mass behavioral dysfunction. That is an easy decision for them. There is no value in spending money and months to expand factories when the demand will vanish as suddenly as it arose.

      All those empty shelves will fill back in just fine when folks stop doing arm sweeps of canned goods into their shopping carts. From that point the Doomsday Preppers will again see what they always saw, full store shelves, from which they can buy on sale a little at a time each week and build up a reserve at home.

      • As long as We don’t become Italy. Yes things will work out. Those people are Rightly Fucked. Dying by the hundreds every day. Infrastructure collapsing. Food is starting to be an issue. Looting of stores has begun. Country is in complete lock down. Medical facilities are over run. Supplies are nearly depleted and they are deciding who lives and who dies. People 80 years old and older are being allowed to die in order to save younger people.

        • Comparing the US to Italy is a fool’s errand. People need to stop with that nonsense.

          It gets clicks and shit but it’s just fearmongering because the comparison is faulty from the jump.

      • Correct.

        I believe that those who see anarchy coming in this situation are unconsciously wanting anarchy to authorize their otherwise bad behavior.

        • “Miner49er says:
          March 22, 2020 at 10:26
          Correct.

          I believe that those who see anarchy coming in this situation are unconsciously wanting anarchy to authorize their otherwise bad behavior.”
          You think you’ve heard the dumbest shit EVER from Whiner, then he outdoes himself.
          The word is subconsciously you idiot. I guess those schools you attend in China aren’t real good at teaching “engrish”.

      • You’re making an unsubstantiated assumption that the virus won’t disrupt the supply chain. As I recall, I don’t recall seeing robots loading crates, driving trucks, commandeering supply trains, stocking shelves, etc. I’m not advising anyone to panic; just be prepared and have at least 6-8 weeks of supplies stocked. And PLEASE folks, help out your neighbors if you are set. I’ve been doing grocery runs at off times for some elderly folks that I’ve advised to stay home because they are at high risk.

        • Completely agree. At this point, the supply chain for food and sundries is still intact, but that can (and probably will, at some point) be affected. As soon as that is reported, THEN we’ll see some real panic and store-clearing by the Horde. Bypassing all that by ordering online? Good choice, but remember that those employees, too, are human beings and can be affected. All it takes is one person to become infected, and the entire location where he/she works will be put on temporary lockdown.

          You are spot on. If at all possible, have 6-8 weeks of food and supplies. If you’re fortunate to have extra beyond that, be prepared to share with others who may be in genuine need, such as elderly neighbors (though this should be done discreetly and with wisdom, as you don’t want the unwanted attention of people who think your home is their new General Store). I myself have two sets of retired elderly neighbors on both sides of my home, one being a mother (80s) and ill daughter (60s) who are not capable of handling things on their own. So I step in from time to time to help out. Times like these are when our characters are shown.

          Kudos to you, good sir. People like you (and LifeSavor, among a few others here) are saying what needs to be said.

        • You need to stop with the defeatist attitude against our great leader Trump!

          Just two short weeks ago the great leader assured us that he has the virus under control and the number of cases will soon be zero!

          “Feb. 26: “Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. … When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

          Yes indeed, as we look at our neighborhood and countryside, we can see what a wonderful job Donald Trump has done, just ask him!

        • All you Never Trumpers and Trump haters can kiss my ass. I can’t imagine where we’d be if Obama, or even worse, Hillary was president. We’d be Italy from coast to coast. Most of the problems we’ve got now in this country is due to the fear mongering of the media. Even now, assholes like Schumer and Pelosi are trying to manipulate things for advantage for the Democrats instead of working in a bipartisan fashion to help everybody. A lot of things will change when this is all over, and you liberal Trump haters aren’t going to like most of it.

        • “And then it will miraculously go away…” Yeah, right. I won’t hold my breath for that to happen.

      • Well said. Unfortunately many (most?) seem invested in fear-mongering and panic. They are screaming “fire” in a crowded theater. Covid-19 should be a concern, but the response has been entirely out of proportion.

        Unless you are old AND immuno-compromised it isn’t dangerous. At all. That is a fact. The hysteria is embarrassing and shameful. Calm down, wash your hands and relax. Sheesh what a bunch of panicking bed-wetters we have become.

        Look at the facts, not the wild-eyed commentary, but the actual data, to put it in perspective. In the not too distant future we’ll rightly wonder why we crashed the world economy over a moderate respiratory disease that doesn’t even affect 85%+ of the population.

        • Actually, you can be very much at risk at any age with this virus. It does affect the young it turns out, it just more affects the old.

      • I hate the word sheeple. The people who use it should look in the mirror. I prefer the German word “stucke” with an umlaut over the u. It means cattle or beast. Here is how you know if you are stucke. Were you part of the great toilet paper stampede? Did you dump your investments like a nuclear war was imminent, and yes to you participate in the frenzied search for guns and ammo? It’s a free country but stucke are going to stampede in a panic because today is like yesterday and tomorrow will be like today. Anybody who prepares was ready by mid February. If you weren’t please don’t tell me how tough and tacticool. You are not playing Call of Duty.

        If you went out and bought thousands of rounds to augment your already substantial supply because it’s TEOTWAWKI you bought the wrong stuff. You should be buying food, medical supplies and survival gear.

      • You can blame Hong Kong for the toilet paper panic. ALL of their supplies come from China and they bought toilet paper and other supplies when they heard the factories were getting shut down to limit the spread of the virus. Because of modern communication and so many expats living around the world the panic went global.

        In Australia we have plenty of local supply. The factories making toilet paper are running 24/7. We have enough food to feed 3x the population. But for some reason the supply chain can’t get it to the stores and on the shelves. Supermarkets are now closing an hour or two early so the shelves can be restocked. There are special trading hours for pensioners and elderly, at already empty stores. State and Federal governments have overruled local government restrictions on truck movements to supermarkets.

        Right now supermarkets look like those in the former Soviet Union or modern Venezuela. Stripped bare.

        • In my part of the world, two weeks later the shelves are barely stocked, supermarket staff have been attacked, and there was a stabbing over TP.

      • How do you avail yourself of this supply when you ran out of money 2 weeks ago? The problem isn’t supply, it’s going to be the 10-20% of the population without a dollar to their name if the lockdowns continue.

  5. Man, I hate I got this info too late.
    I just topped off my ammo storage with 3000 rounds of .308 WIN.
    Could’ve saved me that money.

    • How many rounds did you have before the outbreak. I would say that if you had 500 rounds it’s a wise move if you already had 5000 I would have spent the money on other calibers.

      • Does that mean 10,000 each in various calibers is to much? 2-5 firearms for each caliber is to many? Cached in several locations. Have several like minded citizens with varied skills ready to organize. With supplies for the long haul. Guess We’re either Hoarders or Damn well prepared for SHTF. Hope We don’t need to activate but, it’s Damn nice knowing should it be necessary. We ARE prepared. Be Safe Maintain OP SEC and as always Keep Your Powder Dry.

        • Someone takes himself too seriously. I see a lot of “homey it’s TEOTWAWKI, we have to spend the refund on guns ammo.” buying. Anything else you got caught short on a particular caliber it you live in a fantasy world. You are flipside of Miner.

        • @Darkman,

          Yep, good advice. I’ve always stored my guns & ammo at two separate locations a few miles apart, in case of fire, theft, or attempt at confiscation.

  6. Well, it’s true that too many people watch too much television. The rest is complete rubbish.

  7. SOSO leftist power grab plus profiteering by businesses,plus it seems the American public is stupid enough to accept this nonsense
    Bring on a 1300 European equivalent plague and eliminate these parasites.

    • In 2007 I saw the stupidity the left nominated for the presidential race and bolstered my nesicerry supplies to last years. Thankfully I have not needed to use them YET. We hope that we will not need them now either, but we are ready.

  8. The editorial board should list their members names, addresses, and current levels of supplies. It’s only fair that they lead by example and proudly declare their disarmed status. Typical lugenpresse.

  9. Pittsburgh and surrounding countryside are a microcosm of the United States. Packing heat in Dawntan Pittsburgh (I live near enough to understand the local dialect) to the brim with the western Pennsylvania version of ultra liberals really might not be the thing to do as those inhabitants of the theatre district, the strip district, Southside, and others hardly know one end from the other and have no time to train, but a few miles out in rural PA locals are much like country people everywhere and grew up with guns in the home and small game and deer seasons. Most of these folks already have carry permits and are well armed, but might see the need for something new. The Post Gazette needs to recognize their bias as part of the urban ecosystem and butt out of the business of rural western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and northern West Virginia where their open borders policy and lax enforcement have encouraged many burglaries for money for drugs and addiction. DawnTan the Police are minutes away, but a few miles out the time stretches to hours.

    • I asked my wife (a Newcastle Yinzer) how Pittsburgers said downtown and your phonetic rendition was spot-on. Love our regionalisms!

    • My wife’s family is all from Washington County, and they are good down to earth people. I hunt on my brother in law’s property nearly every year and regularly come home with something for the freezer.

  10. I think Glock needs a special edition Covid-19.

    I think a silver slide with a biohazard striker plate.

    ……dont see them yet at Davidsons…but I’ll buy one.

  11. A Supreme Court decision long ago determined police departments are not obligated to protect you and your family.Also the fact that nationwide the average response time is seven minutes to get to you.A lot of the anti second amendment folks are flocking to gun stores now realizing just how important that right is.Just hoping they take time to take an N.R.A safety course in the safe use of these firearms.

    • Hell YouTube still has basic safety and user manual themed videos for most firearms……. unless they removed those as well.

  12. When cities announce that they are not going to arrest criminals for “minor” things such as burglary, car theft, prostitution, theft, etc., what do you expect innocent citizens to do to protect themselves and their families?

  13. Well, it isn’t the virus I’m worried about here in Baltimore. Rather it is the idiot City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby who publicly announced that there will be NO arrests for drug possession, theft, burglary, vandalism, prostitution and a few other crimes. My firearms are designed to protect my family when the now empowered criminals come a knockin’! This woman and her husband are absolute idiots…but what’s new in Baltimore.

  14. People like this think they can appeal to the humanity of their mugger/violent attacker. They just haven’t learned yet that some people have zero humanity or empathy and would just assume stab them and take their billfold than ask for it.

    Once they realize those rabid animals (predatory, evil people) do exist, I think they’ll change their tune.

  15. Seem to remember a similar message back in 05 but for a hurricane followed by a flood. Yep storm was the worst enemy and no need for guns. On the less sarcastic end of commentary I know my area at least remembered Sandy and is getting prepared just in case.

  16. They laughed at Noah. “No one needs a boat of more than 10 feet!”

    I would encourage everyone who agrees with this editorial to follow its advice. Don’t argue with a fool. This just creates less competition for us later.

    This panic will pass, but the ability to read, measure, prepare and respond to a crisis is what historically separates survivors from victims.

    Many of the people who are caught with their pants down now will prepare for the next time.

  17. Oh yes you can shoot the virus. Maybe we are just talking about a different sickness that’s spreading across the free world. I can’t fight covid, but I can fight the evil and illogical people that will try to socialize my private property from me.

  18. Big Tyrannical Government is the Enemy. They are the solution to anything other than destroying liberties, rights, and freedoms. They never let a crisis go to waste. If you think things will go back to normal after this, you are part of the flock of sheep.

    • I have been hearing the government say this is “the new normal.” Some are saying it might even last 18 months, until there is a vaccine to save us all.

  19. Living in a suburb of Pittsburgh, I’m embarrassed to read something like this from the ultra-liberal “rag”, The Post-Gazette. For anyone not from this area, please don’t take the garbage they spew as the general consensus of the many intelligent, level-headed people that also live here. The uneducated, uninformed liberal left of which there are many, the idiotic Pittsburgh Mayor, Bill Peduto, among them want to shove things down the throats of legal upstanding citizens because it’s what THEY want.

  20. Why do they get to carry guns when it isn’t martial law and they are there to help deliver supplies not enforce orders? Yet we shouldn’t be preparing to prevent the government from deciding it’s the perfect time to declare the constitution dead? Remember how other countries said it was just a drill or for public safety so they could mobilize their forces to conduct a coup while the public simply watched it unfold before them?

    • I guess APCs are more effective at protecting troops from COVID-19 than from AR-14s. Reminds me of Russia.

      • Not buying it, probably an old video. A few military vehicles passing thru Manhattan in heavy traffic? There is no such heavy traffic in NYC right now. You can find live traffic cams on YouTube, no way that’s a current video.

        Probably just military vehicles on their way to some exercise, moving between bases. Four of them is hardly unusual.

        • It’s official. It was declared. He wants to “win the war.”

          There was talk on Friday that Trump would send out the troops. He announced today that he will do what the governor of New York was demanding so the governors can enforce what they want. New York, California and Washington are the first to get the added soldiers. Trump does not want to take control of the troops, he is allowing the governors to give out the orders.

          The National Guard was already mobilized a long time ago. They were whispering about enforcing the stay at home orders. Right now they will start out doing medical stuff, but the government says they will use them for other things when they decide it’s necessary.

          Like I said, it’s turning into Katrina nation wide. As the numbers of infected increase the more the soldiers are going to take over.

      • Come on, get with the program! It’s OK to use fake video in order to drum up fear and panic and create more profit for the gun industry.

        After all, it’s patriotic to spread fake news and create fear and distrust of the government, right?

        • Fear and distrust of the .gov? Whyever would we do that? FDR rounded up Americans based on race and sent them to concentration camps. How about the African Americans used as guinea pigs in medical experiments?

          If you have complete trust in any .gov you are a fool.

        • Never said one should trust the government completely.

          The question is, do you believe it is patriotic to use fake news video to create distrust of the government?

        • Fake news? First chief sensor is one of yours. Second, are you simple enough, or believe we are simple enough to not know that both sides cherry pick facts and slant the news to their advantage?

          miner, you yourself are a past master at cherry picking facts.

          Here’s the truth. You guys lost. Deal with it. Trump will still be in office after the next election. And he will keep appointing conservative judges. Deal with that.

          How much longer do you think ginzberg can last?

        • @jwm

          I was correct about Trump sending in the troops. Fake news? Go watch it come out his mouth.

          Just because you are willfully ignorant, and a supporter of socialism, doesn’t make me anti-America. Stop calling me a commie/socialist just because I don’t support socialism and a military/police state in a country with human rights under the law.

          By the way, Trump is sending the soldiers to your state and is allowing your great governor to be the one to give out the orders. I wonder if you trust that man like you trust Trump. He speaks positively of Trump…

        • National Guard has been deployed in some areas for specific duties. That is true. But saying Trump called out the National Guard is misleading. The National Guard has NOT been nationalized. All NG troops are still under command of their state governors. Trump made that very clear in his presser last night.

        • censor. If you’re not a socialist you’re at the very least an hysteric. The sky is not falling because the .gov is taking steps to deal with the ongoing emergency,

          Why is it ok in your world to point fingers and scream ‘socialist’ but it’s not ok for me to do the same?

        • @jwm

          Because you admit to being okay with socialism and you are from a socialist leaning state. You support Trump’s socialism. The same socialism Andrew Yang, Ilhan Omar, AOC, Bernie, etc, support. All because you are a fan of a billionaire, Hollywood reality TV star, anti 2nd Amendment, New York Democrat.

          I don’t support nation states like China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, North Korea, Indonesia… Authoritarianism is not okay. Statism is not okay. Socialism/communism/fascism is not okay. America should never waver regardless of the sacrifices it must make, it must stand strong. My family and friends had to run away from those shitty places.

          You said I was making stuff up. That I was lying. Now it’s happening. You are watching it happen in slow motion, yet you believe it can’t happen in America under Trump, but it would have happened under Obama. The Democrats are currently excited and support Trump. The media is calling for him to go further and further towards killing the constitution and bringing in a military police state. The government is assuming powers they are not allowed unless martial law is declared by the president. Rights are being suspended because the government refused to do their job until it was too late. Yet the government keeps making sure to say this is not martial law although it’s very much like martial law. The same thing happened in China.

          Korea and Japan didn’t behave this way. North Korea though…

          The military was mobilizing weeks ago while Trump was pretending nothing was wrong. Now every day it gets closer to martial law. The military are bringing in their armor and it looks like the guns are coming too. They have already talked about forcing people to “shelter in place” to stop the spread. They are closing down gun shops and stopping licensing in some places. They have said this could be the new normal, it could last months to over a year.

          A long time ago (when Bush was president) people said this is exactly what would allow the U.S. to declare martial law and utilize FEMA/DHS to take over the nation and delay elections. By law congress have to vote in person, now they are starting to test positive, thus can’t vote.

          Sure, everything could turn out fine in the end. However, you should not stand idle while the government tests how far they can go with the American people. This can’t become the new normal.

        • @jwm

          In February 2019, people were claiming to have seen the military training for some kind of bio weapon and take over in LA. They claim they saw some special operations wearing biological/chemical suits while they assaulted the city.

        • Ok, censor. I get it now. You’re part of the tin foil hat brigade. This is the last time I will engage with you. It takes too much energy and is a waste of time to interact with nutters.

          Have a good life.

  21. Was this published on the same day that some municipalities announced the police suspending the arrest prosecution criminals for “petty” crimes? Post-Gazette, you don’t get it? It’s not TP; it’s the mindset that now criminals will be emboldened to engage in thievery unchecked and unprosecuted. That they may decide to hit your house or your neighborhood. Maybe your response is hide, cower, be robbed, and maybe worse. All I can say, if anyone tries breaking in on me, they will be staring down the barrel of an 8″ S&W .357 Magnum loaded.

    • Home invasions are statistically done by about 3 people. I think you are going to need more than you got.

      • Maybe not. In many if not most of those videos on ASP the intruders run at the first shot fired. They don’t act like soldiers clearing a building with determination but rather just punks looking for an easy even if violent theft.

      • Knock a new hole through one of them and all of a sudden it’s not an easy score.

        Not much different from punching a vicious dog in the snout. They never expect resistance.

  22. Seems to me you are the stupid one, we don’t buy are carry firearms to protect us from viruses, we buy an carry to protect us from stupid people like you.

  23. I think its funny. I have pro-2A friends, folks who are mostly neutral, and know some no-gun people. The Pro-2A folks already have enough ammo and firearms to last six months and worse case scenario situations. Some of the neutral folks had guns, but not ammo and don’t have carry permits. Most couldn’t but ammo, it was gone before they got there and will not be able to get carry permits anytime soon. Some will learn from this and get better prepared, some will drop back into condition white. A few of my no-gun friends seem to think it is incredible, they can buy guns on the internet, they can’t walk out of a store same day because the NICS checks are averaging at least two days, they can’t mail order a carry permit and they can’t find ammo. The rest will stay oblivious to the real world.

    So in the end, I see two positive points. I will have some new people to work with at the range and hose will become part of the 2A community. And, perhaps more importantly, when this Corona-gedden blows over, and it will, there should be some guns on the market cheap, because some or the ‘fence sitters’ and ‘no-gunners’ will sell what ever they bought (cheap) and go back to their lifestyle of living in code white, oblivious to what could happened.

    I will bet there could be a lot of new people ho don’t try to figure out why many of us stock a “box or two” of extra ammo on hand or own an extra pistol or rifle. (I don’t have much because most of it went down in the deepest part of the lake when my boat sank.)

    • “…most pro-2A people have enough ammo to last six months…”

      ****
      Imma gonna stop you right there. Many gun owners have enough ammo for six months. Most pro-2A people have enough for at least six years.

      FIFY

      • Got to ask, based on what? How many rounds are they using per day, week or month….
        Never know.
        1,000 or 10,000 never enough jmo.
        And publishing what you have is not wise…..
        I may have 1,000 or 10,000 but no one will know except me and mine.
        Stay safe and watch your 6,9,3,12.

    • bullets aren’t a problem…TP might be…then again i’m old enough to remember a pot in the house and a shithouse out back…

  24. I didnt buy anything. I have gone out for fresh things like fruit and vegetables for my sons and to keep our normal non emergency things in stock. It’s a 20 minute drive from my house to the somerset prison and if they start letting people out there not gonna be going to where they came from. Baby mommas and the likes follow baby daddies to areas around these prisons and live on our tax money. If they think being prepared for the possible idiots out there is wrong they dont deserve any sympathy or protection. Just wait prisoner releases are coming next mark my words when they start letting the trash out I’ll be happy to bag it up.

    • I don’t see any of those libatards standing outside the gates with open arms inviting those low lifes to stay at their homes….
      Notice how most of them live in gated communities or have a wall around the house….

  25. Actually, it’s good that the people at the Post Gazette are talking sheep into not arming themselves. This will make it much, much safety for the criminals who have families to feed.

  26. “It won’t be necessary to be armed to defend homes stocked with groceries and toilet paper.”

    Give it another couple of weeks. At what point does the reaction to the virus outweigh the damage caused by the virus itself? We’re coming up on that point awfully fast.

  27. If you don’t carry because your “rulers” didn’t give you permission, then you are in the wrong State/Country.

  28. OFWG here…yesterday as I was in Family Dollar’s parking lot I was harrassed by some spanglish azzhole about “fixing” my car. Got a dent. After I said “no”! he continued to follow me in his truck(with another hombre next to him). Nothing came of it but I was darn happy I was armed. Gazette be damned😏

  29. The only thing beyond the young Fucks who refuse to social distance and follow the rules. That is unnecessary is the Media praying for the Apocalypse so they can blame Trump.

    • The Democrats and corporations/media have been praising Trump when he gives them what they had been trying to get Obama to do. They really want him to declare martial law and turn America more socialist. Don’t think for a second the media isn’t in love with Trump, he gives them so much (as the kids would say) “content” to make money.

      Trump feeds the trolls. They’re so in love with him they don’t even talk about a mass shooting where two cops were shot. It’s all Trump and COVID-19 all day, every day. They’re eating well.

      • Giving people a bonus to stop the economy tanking is not socialism. It is a sound practice that has worked elsewhere. In Australia it was done post GFC to get people spending to keep the economy moving and people employed. It worked because Australia wasn’t hit as hard as other countries in the GFC of 2008m

        • Taking people’s money to hand out to another is socialism. Forcibly closing businesses to bring them to their knees, then offering them conditional government loans, is socialism similar to Venezuela. Telling people not to go to work so they lose their job and go into debt, then those people require government income to survive, is something Cuba does.

          Ask old Bernie how great it is to force people into poverty via government coercion then print/steal their future income to “bail” them out. At least there will be lines…

      • Meh. For those of us that work it’s actually a refund.

        And no, it’s not “socialism” even if they give money to those who’ve lost a job (still a refund) or those that haven’t worked recently. Socialism is government control and regulation of the means of production and distribution which a “check in the mail” is not.

        Even within a completely capitalist schema it’s still not “socialism”. It a way of dealing with what economists call an “externality” which the market can’t handle. Even Austrian School people acknowledge such events are real and require outside intervention. This is, quite literally, Economics 101.

  30. It’s not helpful to those in favor of more restrictions to have people who want guns suddenly realizing that permits, waiting periods, etc. interfere with their ability to exercise their rights NOW, not weeks from now.

  31. Thank you anyway CNN AKA communist news network. I suggest you lock down and shelter in place just in case one of the numerous early released criminals want to borrow a cup of sugar while you sit there with your thumbs up stuck up your very ignorant behinds. You ratbassturds are so low you have to look up to see down.

  32. Where I live, you don’t need any permits. The Troopers are probably hours away from your call. I’m not calling the Troopers until it is over, anyway. We will help our friends and neighbors and I pity the thieves that make the mistake of showing up here…

  33. Thank you anyway CNN AKA communist news network. I suggest you lock down and shelter in place just in case one of the numerous early released criminals want to borrow a cup of sugar while you sit there with your thumbs up stuck up your very ignorant behinds. ?

  34. Hey post-gazette, you do you and leave me alone. I’ll take care of me and mine without your help or opinion.

  35. Karma sucks, what are the chances the author of this drivel gets their house broken into?

    I know for my neighbors and also for me it’s damn near 0% as burglars first stop might be their last. Last year my rural area was the subject of a TTAG article about defensive gun use against a meth head.

    We are loaded and ready, I’ve got the backhoe topped up with diesel. Try a liberal neighborhood if you need supplies.

    • The ones who would actually attempt a robbery probably will hit liberal neighborhoods…
      I think most realize heading to rural areas to loot would be a death sentence…

  36. I worked with self described “uber” intellectuals and elites in an overseas environment. These folks always ended up robbed at gunpoint, with some being badly beaten by criminals as they attempted to negotiate in the middle of an armed robbery. Criminals don’t care and will take advantage of unarmed civilians anywhere on the planet.

  37. Their editorial is besides the point. The panic buying of anything right now has to do with the normal range of human responses to a whole lot of fear filled chatter going on in society generally. None of it is about combating the virus.

    Right now the general panic is inconveniencing a lot of people but in and of itself is doing no real long term harm. When it passes, the economic value of all this buying will be seen as having been a stimulus unto itself, perfectly healthy for wager earners and employers.

    There will be something of a dip in the buying of things that panicked hordes went crazy for. Such as toilet paper. But with the sudden influx of profits, those companies will weather it all just fine.

    As for buying guns and ammo right now, on the one hand it is always a positive thing when more American Citizens recognize and exercise their natural and Constitutionally enumerated rights. It is an indirect benefit of a bad situation, a predictable behavioral reaction that bears no beneficial link to the cause itself.

    On the other hand it is a damned nuisance for people who cannot afford to buy ammo in anything but small and occasional quantities. For that sort of reason I do wish these panics would not happen. But I also know that once the panic has run its course, the manufacturers will catch up in restocking stores and prices will again fall. Also, politically, we will have more voters thinking more positively about Second Amendment Rights.

    So, no, guns and ammo will not help in stopping COVID-19, the two are not linked in that way. But that is besides the point anyway. The point of gun ownership is an entirely different topic.

    The thing I wonder about is if the sale of large chest freezers has suddenly spiked? Because all that fresh meat, cheese, frozen hash brown poatoes and eggs people are wiping out of the stores must be getting stored someplace?

  38. Coronavirus is not the enemy. Government is the enemy. Corona virus will kill 1% to 3% of the people that contract it. Horrible, yes.

    But government, in all its mania for power, is killing the economy. It’s killing the rule of law. And soon it will start killing people who have the temerity to take a walk outside.

    The casualties from the murder of the economy will continue for decades.

    The “cure” is worse than the disease.

  39. Older people are being mugged for their Grocery”s, being a Vietnam Vet its kind of superfluous to lecture me on firearms an ammo! While it’s true the enemy is the Virus, it’s also true that bad guy’s panic as much or more than regular people. Usually they are not righteous in their acquisitions thus a need for self protection!
    therefore the need for defensive weapons! Beside who says I can’t shoot the virus????

  40. As part of the elite, the authors probably strap on their carry gun as they leave the office after publishing this tripe!

  41. The best defense against the Wuhan virus to to quarantine all members of Congress and the State Governors for 90 days in order to stop them from pissing away our money and resources. It would also be helpful to stop all trading on the world stock exchanges as they are crashing faster than any time since 1929, thereby causing peoples lifetime savings and investments to vanish. The next thing will be closure of all State and National banks to prevent a run on their deposits, which have all been loaned out to insolvent businesses. Hang on Buckee, you haven’t seen anything yet.

  42. The press does so much to stoke the disaster, crisis, etc mentality. Then when a real problem hits, they say don’t buy guns. Maybe they need to buy some introspection.

  43. You’re seeing what happens when people panic and give in to fear. So far we haven’t seen any riots, but it wouldn’t take much for that to happen. What happens if the food supply replenishment goes south? How do you protect yourself and your family under those conditions? What if the electrical should fail. People who depend on city services for water, gas, electricity, and grocery stores for food will come boiling out of the cities like a plague of locusts under those conditions. Those who have guns will use them to get what they need from those who don’t in that group. But only those with guns will be able to stop it from happening once people start to starve or can’t get their meds or enough clean water. If you don’t have any power, then you are a potential victim of those who do.

  44. Yep, we don’t need masks either, those are for the professionals. Regular people are too stupid to know how to fit them properly, so just shouldn’t bother.

  45. The author of this garbage says “hey you dumb rubes turn on CNN and educate yourself” . If you are turning to CNN for an education ,You will get nothing but liberal propaganda there.

  46. Zimmerman is a clueless fool. The #1 rule for proper prepping for SHTF circumstances, which we are in the early stages of, is to be able to defend all of the supplies you have that others (like Zimmerman) do not have. When those folks run out and cannot get them, all bets are off what they will do. I refuse to be a victim because of negligent and avoidable preparation.

  47. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it Philadelphia PD that released a statement that basically said “we ain’t arresting no body for no thing for the foreseeable future”? Only a “journalist” would be convinced people are buying guns to “shoot the virus” or “protect their tp supply”. When our “protectors” say…”Good evening, you’re on your own, goodnight”…that tends to get peoples attention. Especially when they realize the “good guy with a gun” is no themselves or nobody.

  48. I find myself curious regarding the following. Any number of sane, responsible, law abiding citizens have State Issued Concealed Carry Permits/Licenses. Some have been issued recently, in other cases said permits/licenses go back many years. What, I wonder might The Post-Gazette have to say, what advice might it have for the above described individuals?

  49. Well, when theres police depts big and small telling officers to not arrest criminals for most offences and cities and states are releasing convicted criminals due to concerns over the virus, then it’s only sensible for unarmed people to arm themselves. I somehow doubt all the low lifes and thugs have decided to go straight all of a sudden. Not gonna get arrested for armed robbery? Assault? Why not go right ahead and commit those crimes? I’m sure crimes are going to be kept hush-hush..wouldn’t want to panic the general public over nothing.

  50. In a phone conversation with a very liberal neighbor today, he expressed his concern that “people armed with guns might show up to our doors demanding we give them our food.”

    I’m thinking, “Uh, maybe your door, but it’d be a brief stop at mine.”

    • What’s stopping people armed with short lengths of plumbing pipe from demanding food (or anything else) at your neighbor’s door?

  51. Time will tell, but I predict that the WuHan Virus Pandemic will eventually become a case study in Media Driven Mass Psychogenic Hysteria.
    The numbers don’t add up to support the over reaction we’re witnessing. Most of the Government reactions and proclamations (at the State level) are just flat out worthless in containing a virus. So far, data analysis does not support the extreme measures some States are instituting. An honest and unbiased review of the current Mortality rates doesn’t show the predicted extremes the Chicken Little’s have been screaming about.
    After the dust settles, we need to hold the lame street media’ feet to the fire for their unethical and irresponsible flaming of the flames of hysteria

    • Korea and Japan are doing well without stooping to the level of America. The U.S. government ignored the Korean government in January when they warned and advised Trump. Trump didn’t care because he was campaigning for his election. The Koreans had to test the American troops for COVID-19 because no one else was (yes, soldiers tested positive). Korea informed trump how they contained the spread and death. Trump refused to do what works, but they did test celebrities and government for the virus.

      Japan is doing great considering the situation. People are going out, but not attending crowded events. Kids are out playing, people are picnicking, people are exercising outside, they’re going to work, stores are stocked, etc. No one is panicking now that they know toilet paper is made in Japan not China.

      Korea and Japan sanitize their public areas so the virus won’t linger on public transport. New York did what they always do: be dirty as it gets. Now they have the most infected. Majority of those wearing masks in New York are Asian, some Asians decided not to wear their masks because people were getting mad at them. In China Town, almost all the Asians are wearing their masks and the workers are wearing gloves. At Whole Foods, the white and black people are not wearing masks.

  52. “It won’t be necessary to be armed to defend homes stocked with groceries and toilet paper. Things may be rough for a while, and inconvenient, but society will not collapse”

    I agree with the latter in general, but not the former. It’s always necessary to be able to defend your home.

    But in a sense they’re right… the helpful time to buy a gun would have been BEFORE the crisis. As always.

  53. Please refrain from telling me how I should think, act or react to the world around me. I have many friends in Argentina and have talked to them about how ugly it got down there during the last recession.
    If the supply chain goes down the S will hit the fan. I am prepared in every way to keep my family alive and well.
    I have moved my work home and now carry 18/7, and the other 6 a pistol is at hand and all other boomsticks are a few feet away in a “box”.
    I have elderly parents and neighbors that will be under my watch if the world has a little hickup.
    Stay safe and aware everyone. I’ve already had a neighbor down the street lose her mind over 5 lemons that kids in the neighborhood had picked and just squished.

  54. They really don’t understand why people want to have a gun. They look at it as some macho testosterone thing while we look at it as a desire to be prepared to defend ourselves against those (who WILL be armed) who desire to take whatever they can from us for whatever reason.

    This is because they pay little attention to actual crime statistics and assume that because they or their circle of friends has never had to defend themselves that no one else will either.

    That and they don’t like the idea of people they consider sub normal owning a firearm.

    Liberals are all about telling others what they can and cannot do and anyone who disagrees is a mental case or sub human.

  55. The media created this panic, unduly.
    Plain old, regular flu has hostipatlized more Americans this year than Covid-19 has globally. it’s killed at least as many and with 65000000 reported cases of H1N1 in the U.S. alone (stats from CDC website), you’d think that we’d have heard about that. This isn’t about a virus, this is about an awakening *COUGH*2A rallies*COUGH*…

    • Sorry, only 38000000 cases, but way more dead that Covid-19 from H1N1 in the U.S.:
      “CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 38 million flu illnesses, 390,000 hospitalizations and 23,000 deaths from flu.”

      • no…this is a serious situation…and something I have not seen in my lifetime…but eventually things will get better….

  56. The ACTUAL percentage of Deaths associated with this virus is 0.04% right now in America. It’s at 0.01 worldwide.

  57. “…too many people watch too much television.”

    If by “too much television” they mean CNN, they got it right. But then, I guess that’s too much to expect.

    • the greatest threat is to urban centers…and will remain so….in all of their arrogance they refuse to accept how really vulnerable they are….

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