Courtesy / Liberty Tree Arms
Kristine Blake, owner of Liberty Tree Arms in Waldoboro, said her business has seen a dramatic increase in the number of first-time gun purchasers.
July 22, 2020
Gun sales in Maine appear to be spiking, again, and growing toward record levels
Courtesy / Northeastern Firearms
Sales of guns, like these on display at Northeastern Firearms in Turner, appear to be setting a record pace in Maine this year.
By William Hall
A new study and new federal data suggest Maine gun merchants could be on their way to a record sales year.
Since March, the U.S. has seen the number of firearm sales soar by almost 3 million over typical levels, according to research released last week by the Brookings Institution, a policy think tank in Washington, D.C. Half of that increase occurred in June alone.
In Maine, the numbers are also staggering, with gun dealers on track to record nearly 129,000 sales during 2020, the most since the FBI began compiling records in 1998. That volume would also represent more than a 40% increase over sales in 2019.
Gauging gun sales is difficult, since some states including Maine do not require background checks of purchasers; federal law requires only licensed gun dealers to submit buyer information for review. The background check requests are widely used to estimate sales.
In 2019, Maine gun dealers submitted 90,626 requests to the FBI. Already, during the first half of 2020, there have been more than 64,000 checks.
Monthly numbers spiked in March, hitting 14,627, almost double the level in both January and February. After falling slightly in April and May, the number of background checks increased again in June to 12,090.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the growth coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic and a period of civil unrest across the country.
“For sure, sales ever since the pandemic started have been pretty much on fire,” said Patricia Rumsey, a board member of Gun Owners of Maine, an Augusta-based volunteer advocacy group. She told Mainebiz on Tuesday that based on member feedback, sales appear to be especially strong among people who have never owned a gun.
The Brooking Institution study supports that observation, noting, “When Americans are concerned about their personal security, they buy firearms. Such concerns have been rampant since March, initially due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and then the social unrest in June that followed George Floyd’s killing.”
Kristine Blake, who owns Liberty Tree Arms in Waldoboro, has also noticed the gun growth.
“We have seen a huge surge in sales,” she said. “What I have experienced on a daily basis is a record number of first-time gun owners, from all walks of life … It is definitely the new gun owners driving the economy and contributing to the huge spike in recent gun sales.”
Demand for guns in other New England states appears to mirror Maine’s.
In New Hampshire, for example, monthly background checks totaled about 11,000 in January and in February, then more than doubled to 22,466 in March. The number subsequently fell off, but increased to 16,371 in June.
The increases don’t appear to be seasonal. A review of the FBI data shows that background checks in Maine and elsewhere tend to rise only slightly in the spring, and taper off by summer. Usually, Maine’s largest growth occurs in September and October, roughly the timeframe of the fall hunting season.
If that trend continues, the second half of 2020 may be busier for Maine gun dealers than the first six months. Sales for the year could even eclipse the level in 2016, when background checks totaled the highest ever, 111,582.
Blake said the new owners are coming from "all ages, demographics and political leanings.”
“They have realized they are ultimately the only ones responsible for their own safety and that of their families. They are taking it seriously.”
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Anonymous
July 24, 2020
Maine already has more guns than people, no gun control to speak of, the lowest violent crime rate in the US, and the fourth lowest property crime rate in the US (even though Maine is the tenth poorest state in the US--which seems to put the lie to the constant refrain "poverty causes crime.")
I hope that many of these buyers are first-time or infrequent buyers, alarmed at our nation's march toward a bizarre, intersectionality-based form of Marxism called "social justice."
Anonymous
July 22, 2020
Maine gun dealers require a background check. Only casual sales between individuals do not.
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