Coronavirus ignites bull market in firearms, ammo

This is really curious to me because America armed itself to the teeth during the eight years of the Obama Administration. That's when AR-15s were in such high demand that the price of a basic AR-15 from DPMS, Smith & Wesson, Ruger and others went from about $700 to $2,000. An AR-15 probably doesn't cost $200 to make, but people paid it, often for multiple guns at once.

Remember lines forming at the Walmart sporting goods department and customers buying the entire week's shipment of .22 Long Rifle ammo right off the truck before folks at home drank their first cup of coffee? One friend joined the line every Wednesday. For a long time, stores couldn't even keep reloading powder in stock, and primers were unobtainable.

What could people possibly want that they didn't already buy back then? It's all the same stuff, except now, apparently, a new group of buyers is helping drive the market. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, gun sales are surging in California, New York and Washington. Those are some of the hardest hit states by coronavirus. Gun sales are also very high in New Jersey and Delaware. None are known to be friendly to the Second Amendment, but many first-time buyers are joining the gun-owning public because they fear social unrest and disorder caused by a non-partisan disease. In those states, gun shops have sold their inventory, and they can't get new guns and ammo fast enough to keep up with the demand.

In Arkansas, some gun shops were momentarily knocked off balance by the surge, but they have recovered. An employee at a prominent shop in Sherwood said there was a big run on 5.56 NATO ammo in February, and also on .22 LR, but everything is available now. The AR-15 uses 5.56 NATO or .223 Remington. The cartridges are nearly identical and hold the same bullet.