COVID-19 turbocharges gun carry movement

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It turns out that there is a COVID-19 side effect that won’t hurt you. In fact, it may save your life.

Since the nation shut down in March 2020 as the coronavirus crisis hit, 10 states have cleared the way for citizens to carry handguns.

A movement that began in Alaska in 2003 will reach exactly half the country this month when Georgia this week becomes the 25th state to OK “constitutional carry,” meaning there are few rules barring the carrying of handguns.

“COVID actually turbocharged the constitutional carry movement,” National Rifle Association chief lobbyist Jason Ouimet told Secrets.

“When the men and women in law enforcement contracted COVID, a lot of them weren’t able to go to work, and you really were your first and only line of defense. You really were your own first responder in your house, and thank God for the Second Amendment that you have the ability to exercise this right in America,” he added.

The violent Black Lives Matter riots in 2020 also fueled action in several states.

Aaron Dorr, director of state operations for the American Firearms Association, said, “Constitutional carry is surging because Americans are sick and tired of having to register like sex offenders to be able to carry a firearm for self-defense, while violent thugs murdered, burned, and looted their way across our country during 2020’s ‘mostly peaceful protests’ with no consequences.”

Since COVID-19 and the 2020 riots, guns have been hot. Sales reached historic levels. More minorities than ever, especially black people and women, purchased guns and took lessons on how to comply with the new carry laws.

And the rush isn’t over. With 42 states allowing constitutional or permitless carry, the rest could be forced into the gun club by the Supreme Court, which is poised to strike down restrictions the eight remaining states have erected on Second Amendment rights.

“It’s pretty historic. You look where this movement began in 1987 with only a handful of states having some form of right to carry to 35 years later, where we now have 25 constitutional carry states, 42 right-to-carry states, and a Supreme Court that will issue an opinion in the next three months in NYSRPA v. Bruen that may uproot the remaining eight may-issue states. That’s pretty amazing, and this movement the NRA has proudly been at the forefront of doesn’t show any sign of slowing down,” said Ouimet, who heads the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action.

And it’s happened despite the media’s near news blackout.

“They’re happy to sweep this news right under the rug because it just doesn’t fit their narrative,” said Ouimet, who helped lead the successful fight to kill President Joe Biden’s anti-gun pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. “You have half the country with constitutional carry, and the law-abiding people are following the law — while the criminals continue to ignore any gun control law. It doesn’t fit their narrative of ‘gun control stops violent crime.’”

With the nation turning pro-gun so fast and the high court essentially poised to nationalize the freedom to carry handguns with few restrictions other than passing background checks, the movement is turning to winning the freedom to carry weapons legally across state lines.

“We’d like to see this movement go even further, and we will continue to advocate for Congress to pass national concealed carry reciprocity,” said Tim Schmidt, the president and founder of the United States Concealed Carry Association.

Biden is likely to fight that as he pushes a gun control platform. Just Sunday he again called for gun bans, using a California shooting to politicize the issue.

But Schmidt, whose organization has 650,000 members, said, “The USCCA believes all law-abiding Americans should be able to own a firearm to protect themselves and their loved ones without permission from the government. More Americans than ever before are taking their God-given right to self-defense seriously, and we continue to urge all responsible gun owners to make sure that they are well trained.”

Justin Anderson, the marketing director for Hyatt Guns of Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the nation’s largest, added that the movement has been good for safety and business.

“As a gun owner, I’m delighted to see the needle moving the other direction regarding our Second Amendment rights,” he told us. “These laws are also good for business as more law-abiding citizens buy guns. Most importantly, these laws are an exceptional deterrent to violent crime.”

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