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Swing States See Gun Sales Boom, Activists Look to Capitalize


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Washington Free Beacon

Nine swing states have seen record-setting surge in gun sales in 2020

Stephen Gutowski and Charles Fain Lehman

September 14, 2020

Former mechanic Shawn Shriver bought a storefront about an hour outside Pittsburgh years ago. He created a 400-square-foot gun shop that he runs with his wife. They sell guns, ammo, and holsters to their neighbors. They normally carry about 150 pistols on a regular day. But there haven't been many regular days since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March, as well as the public unrest that emerged in June.

"I've got like three pistols in this store," he said on Wednesday. "That's it."

A similar story has played out in many gun stores across the country in recent months. Shriver's experience may be more relevant to understanding the electoral implications of the recent riot-inspired gun-sales spike because of where it's happening: a small town at the southwest tip of a swing state that could play a key role in electing the next president of the United States.

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Ann, who is one of the Pennsylvania representatives for a female-led gun-rights group called the DC Project, said some 500 new women have volunteered in recent months. While she thinks engagement with new gun owners is "not enough" at this point, she also believes it could be a sign of things to come.

"It is certainly not enough to overthrow what [pro-gun control group] Everytown has, but people are starting to step up," she said.

Shriver shared the hopeful outlook. He said his regular customers are all-in on electing pro-gun candidates like President Trump in 2020, one of whom gave him a stack of Pennsylvania voter registration applications to try and help get some of those new gun owners on the voting rolls.

"They dropped these off, I'm gonna say two weeks ago, three weeks ago. And I've been asking people and I haven't had anybody fill them out yet," he said laughing. "But when they come in, I ask them."

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