Ohio Sees Explosion of Gun Sales During Covid-19 Quarantine

While much of the nation was still trying to find toilet paper, gun owners across the country recognized that social unrest often leads to the need for self-protection. As word came that prisons were releasing thousands of criminals and police weren’t going to be responding to calls they normally would, those concerns grew.

Stores Were Slammed

Gun sales spiked around the country, including Ohio’s gun stores. Gun stores across the state have reported record sales–with some stores already having done more business in the first four months of the year than they did in all of 2019.

Owner Tim Ostrander of Summit Armory in Bath Twp. is in that number. What’s driving sales? Customers who realize they might need to defend themselves are behind 95 percent of the increased sales, he says. “People want to feel safe in their houses.’

Meanwhile, at At L.E.P.D. Firearms Range and Training Facility in Columbus, co-owner Eric Delbert said that by the end of March, their store shelves were bare. Delbert said, “It looked like we had either been robbed or were going out of business.”

Nationwide, gun store owners are reporting a staggering number of ‘first time buyers’. That only makes sense, as most folks who recognize that ‘self-defense is the best defense’ already own a gun. But for the new gun owners, that idea may have been brand new.

Delbert says that his store’s experience mirrored the national scene. He estimated that 70% of the people in his store were first-time gun buyers. “I think people were panicked,” he says. “It was something tangible they thought they could do.”

Ohio Sales Statistics

In the month of March, Ohio gun dealers ran 114,086 background checks — that’s more than twice the 63,156 that were run in February.

Things slowed down in April, when Ohio gun dealers ran 68,812 background checks. Still, that is almost exactly 15,000 more than the 53,819 Ohio ran in April of 2019.

On the national scene, five of the ‘top ten biggest’ weeks for background checks have been since March 1st. Additionally, five of the top ten biggest single days for background checks were also in March of this year.

Thousands of New Gun Owners: Will They Affect The Political Landscape?

Chris Dorr is the Executive Director of Ohio Gun Owners — the largest and loudest pro-gun group in the state. Ohio Gun Owners calls themselves a ‘No-Compromise’ Second Amendment group.

When asked for comment, Dorr didn’t pull any punches: “Guns in the hands of fabulous Ohioans force wannabees like DeWine from going full-blown tyrant – they’re the ultimate check and balance on government.”

How these thousands of new gun owners will affect the political landscape remains to be seen, but we hope they join us in the fight against gun control–and fast!