Kentucky processed some of the highest numbers of background checks in the past three months as potential gun buyers with fears of the coronavirus driving people to gun shops.
Frank Miller — owner of Frank Miller and Son Sporting Goods, which has been in Owensboro for 57 years — said sales at his shop have doubled, if not more.
“We’ve been so busy, it’s unbelievable,” Miller said. “For some reason when things like this happen, people get scared. They think they need a gun to protect their home, which doesn’t make much sense to me but that’s just the way people are.”
In Kentucky, there were 367,301 background checks in January and 398,247 in February, according to the FBI’s NICS Firearm Checks database. At the height of the coronavirus in March, there was a significant decrease with 235,305 background checks.
But people are still shopping for hunting and fishing supplies.
Miller said people have been buying “everything” from pistols, shotguns to rifles, but also ammunition, archery, fishing equipment and bait. He said there’s another reason for the increase in gun sales at least for Owensboro specifically.
“There are lots of hunters and fishermen, and people who target shoot,” Miller said. “People can’t go to work and the kids aren’t in school, so they’re going fishing (and hunting).”
Ross Leigh, director of the Daviess County Parks & Recreation Department, said people aren’t using their firearms at the county gun range, which isn’t attracting many shooters right now.
Leigh said people are probably spending their time hunting since Spring turkey season begins this weekend. Shooters who are over 60 have also reported that they’re concerned about COVID-19, he said.
“They really want to be able to come out but they’re just concerned and that’s just the environment we’re in right now,” Leigh said. “I feel like if we weren’t in the environment of COVID-19 we probably would see more people.”
Both Miller and Leigh said that they’ve seen much more first-time gun owners amid COVID-19, which is a positive thing for sale and supports of the Second Amendment.
“Because we’re open and so many places are closed, there are brand new customers, which in the future will be wonderful for us,” Miller said.
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