GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — First it was the Coronavirus, and the lockdowns that came with it. Now, it’s the civil unrest gripping the nation in the wake of demonstrations and riots over the death of George Floyd.
The whirlwind of events over the past several months has sent thousands across the country to gun stores, where many are buying firearms.
“When the state shut down we got real busy with handgun sales, and then once the rioting started it was like a whole other trend,” Kyle Engels, the vice president of Gus’s Guns, told WTAQ.
Many buyers are coming in for the very first time, with some even saying the events of recent months have made them reconsider their stance on gun rights.
“There are a lot of new buyers, and a lot of formerly anti-gun people have suddenly changed their tune and now they’re not as anti-gun,” Engels said Thursday. “And they want to get one.”
Those looking at buying their first gun may find it difficult to find what they want.
“Glocks have always been popular, but they’ve become really hard to come by,” Engels said. “Your reasonably priced, good quality pistols are nearly impossible to come by at the moment. You get lucky every once in a while and grab a couple, but they’re few and far between.”
More difficult to find than a handgun, however, is ammunition. There’s a nationwide shortage on all forms of popular ammunition, from the 9mm rounds used in many handguns to 5.56 caliber ammo used in popular semi-automatic rifles.
“Once there was rioting and talk about defunding police departments then ammo became really hard to get,” said Engels. “It’s actually gotten worse from what I can tell.”
There’s no telling when things will return to ‘normal’ at either of Gus’s Guns locations in Suamico and Green Bay.
