https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/26/il-gun-sales-up-500-many-first-time-buyers-women/With a wave of crises crashing across the U.S., more than 40,000 Illinoisans applied for a gun permit in a little more than two weeks this month, more than 500 percent over last year, says the Illinois State Police. Gun sales are soaring at Mark Glavin’s shop in Elgin, from an average of 10 a day last year to as many as 200 a day this year. With so many gun purchases, he said, ammunition also can be hard to find. “Take a full glass of coronavirus, shake in a shot of riots and another of this defund police notion, and everything goes crazy,” Glavin, owner of Fox Valley Shooting Range, tells the Chicago Tribune. “Not to mention the backlog on background checks.”
The mandatory 72-hour background check — required by the state before getting a gun — has stretched to more than a week for some of his customers. From June 1 to June 17, there were more than 42,000 applications for FOID cards, compared with about 7,000 during the same time last year, a 501 percent increase. “We know that traditionally there’s an uptick in gun purchases around elections and major tragedies,” said Noam Ostrander, an associate professor of social work at DePaul University who has worked extensively with victims of gun violence and police brutality in Chicago. “There’s two big predictors of gun ownership … perceived risk of victimization and then a belief that the world is a dangerous place …the world does look like a dangerous place right now.”
Dan Eldridge, owner of Maxon Shooter’s Supplies and Range in Des Plaines, said nearly half the customers clamoring for appointments these days appear to be first-time buyers. He said a survey by the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that 40 percent of buyers were first-time purchasers and 40 percent of those were women.
