NJ Gun Sales on The Rise

Pandemic and political climate helped spur a surge in the state's south

By: aedy Miller
Cherry Hill Courier Post
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... For Sandy Hicks, shooting a gun for the first time was an intense experience - but it also revealed a divine sense of responsibility. The 71-year-old from Deptford has just finished a firearms safety course at Little Bob's Sport Shop in Glassboro and despite having a permit to buy a handgun, still wasn't sure if she would. Hicks said she needed to pray on the decision and weigh the risks of using a gun for self-defense while living in a condominium.
..... "I think responsible people can be gun owners, and I think responsible people should be able to have safety in their homes," she said. "My home may not be a candidate for that."
..... Regardless of her decision, Hicks acknowledged the importance of gun ownership as an individual's constitutional right and not an issue a "one size fits all" approach can address.

New Jersey gun law changes

..... In June, [2022] the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York's concealed carry law for similar reasons. The law required residents to demonstrate a "proper cause" to carry a gun outside the home. While New Jeseyans had to show a "justifiable need," the spirit of the law was the same.
..... Associate justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the 6-3 majority opinion that the court knows "of no other constitutional right than an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need."
..... The ruling was not without a slew of controversies. Nearly every major national anti-gun violence organization decried the ruling. The Brady Campaign, Giffords Law Center and March for Our Lives went so far as to call the decision "extremist" and argued it "will inevitably lead to more tragic acts of vigilantism, gun violence and preventable deaths.
..... "It's a very alarming decision, and I think it's already leading to another big spike in gun purchases," said the Rev. Bob Moore, executive director of the Coalition for Peace Action which has overseen a state wide gun violence prevention project called Ceasefire NJ for over 25 years.
..... The decision could lead many to believe that "other people might also be carrying guns in public places, so I better have my won," he said.
..... Prior to the decision, only New Jersey residents who could establish an urgent necessity for self-protection would be eligible for a permit. But the issuance of a permit was still subject to the discretion of the reviewing law enforcement agency and a superior court judge. Now, applicants must only meet the other concealed carry permit criteria: pass a background check, display familiarly with firearms and not have a disqualifying disability, per the Attorney General's Office.
..... Removing the "common sense" need to provide a life-or-death rationale to get a concealed carry permit is "taking a bad situation and making it much, worse," said Moore.
..... He pointed to the fact that crime victims rarely defend themselves with a firearm. According to the Department of justice's national Crime Victimization Survey, victims use a gun for self-defense in about 2% of nonfatal crimes and about 1% of property crimes from 2014-2018.
..... One analysis estimated that fewer than 600 potential perpetrators were killed in defensive gun use incidents that made the news in 2019. And, per the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, firearms are used far more often to intimidate than in self-defense and guns in homes are used more often to frighten partners and family members.
..... As the end of July, [2022] about 8% of New Jersey gun owners said they always or nearly always carry a firearm outside the home, according to a report by the New Jersey Gun violence Research Center at Rutgers University. Nearly half of racial minority gun owners said they carry outside the home and about 15% of female gun owners said they sometimes or always do so.

Gun sales increasing

..... Since the Supreme Court decision, Little Bob's has been inundated with people seeking to take the firearms familiarity qualification test at the store's indoor range, according to co-owner Wayne Viden, 54. He said that the store has had to start opening Sundays just for qualifications. There have even been days where the store has processed more than 100 people.
..... "I think concealed carry is going to get more people in the range more," said co-owner Wendy Copenhaver, 59. "Because I think a percentage of those people are extremely serious about wanting to stay up with this. this is not just a one-time thing for them."
..... Eugene Davis, co-owner of the Pennsauken gun club and retailer Anubis Arms, has also been flooded with inquiries about concealed carry trainings.
..... "We have trainers that are certified in other areas but not for concealed carry specifically -because it was not a thing before a few weeks ago," he said, adding that the club partnered with a shop that does qualifications.
..... "It's been a constant conversation with every person that comes in (asking about concealed carry)," he said. "But it's always with the caveat that it's not you filling out an application and they're just going to give you a license to carry. There are prerequisites that you need to meet before you can be allowed to carry a firearm.
..... Since June, [2022] New Jersey firearm sales have ticked slightly upward at a similar rate to the end of summer 2020, according to estimates based on the FBI's national Instant Criminal Background Check System by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gun violence.
..... Per the FBI, every NICS background check does not necessarily reflect the purchase of a firearm, but most background checks are performed during the sale of a gun by licensed dealers. This makes NICS data an imperfect reflection of consumer demand for guns. These sales estimates take into account one background check for the purchase of multiple guns, checks for non-purchases, such as an applying for a permit, and seasonal shifts in demand.
..... The Trace estimates 11.2 million guns have been sold across the country this year from January to August, [2022] the most recent month for which there is NICA data. New Jersey accounts for about 111,800 of those sales.
..... Firearm sales shot up in 2020. In New Jersey, they went from 9,153 in January to a peak of 24,487 in November. National sales went form 1.35 million in January and peaked in November at 1.74 million. Sales reached an all-time monthly high in January 2021, national sales neared 2.5 million and Garden State sales topped 30,000.
..... Nationally, sales tapered to near pre-pandemic levels in August [2022] at about 1.4 million a month, as compared to 1.2 million the same time in 2019. But her in New Jersey, they are still double what they were before COVID: 8,500 in august 2019 as opposed to 16,000 in 2022.
..... "Our industry, unfortunately, tends to do better when things are breaking down," said Viden.

Who's buying guns in the state?

..... However, the increase in firearm purchases cannot be ascribed solely to the pandemic and political events of the past two years. Since 2005, the overall number of gun purchases has been trending upward. Given gun sales increase during tumultuous periods, this makes record highs unsurprising.
..... What is surprising is the recent surge of new gun owners.
..... About 3% of U.S. adults, or 7.5 million people brought a gun for the first time between January 2019 and April 2021, according to firearms researchers Deborah Azrael, Wilson Zhang and Dr, Mathew Miller.
..... "Most (5.4 million) had lived in homes without guns, collectively exposing, in addition to themselves, over11 million persons to household firearms, including more than 5 million published earlier they wrote in an article published earlier this year. [2022]
..... About half of new firearm owners were women, 20% Blake and 20% were Hispanic. Recent purchasers who were not new to gun ownership, though, were predominantly white and male. Nearly two-thirds of all gun owners are white and about three-quarters are men, according to the researchers.
..... They also found that new gun owners in 2019 resembled new gun owners in 2020, suggesting the demographic shift in new gun ownership started before the pandemic, George Floyd pretests and the January 6 [2021] Capitol riot.
.... "we're seeing all groups (buy guns)," said Viden. "Women, men, Black, white, Hispanic, Asian - everybody's probably increased about the same."
..... "Probably the biggest demographic (increase) is women," he said. "And it's not just younger women, it's older women. "were having some senior citizens coming in and getting their guns for the first time."
..... Anubis Arms, the Pennsauken gun club which also has the only Black-and Hispanic-owned firearm sales and transfer license in New Jersey, has also seen an influx of female customers, Black women in particular.
..... "We probably have more Black female customers than anything," said co-owner Davis. "We also have than we do males."
..... When Anubis Arms got its license in February, [2022] its initial customer base was older men happy to find a local dealer,. But, over the past three moths or so, Davis said, there have been more women wanting to learn more. Some are empty nester and single mothers who want to feel safe at home alone, while others are wives who are interested in shooting sports because their husbands introduced it to them.
..... While Little Bob's has seen an increase in first-time shooters of all races and genders, Copenhaver too said more women are "getting their feet wet" with firearms in recent years. In August, [2022] Little Bob's hosted several sold-out women's nights. they welcomed women of all ages and experience levels to learn from a female instructor and try shooting in a supportive environment.
..... Many are learning to shoot for self-defense, but a lot are just curious, she said. Maybe their only experience with firearms was hunting with their dads as a kid and now, as grown women they want to give it another try. For others it's to connect with family members who go to the range, and for some, it's simply to tick an item off their bucket list.
..... Regardless, more women are interested in guns because they symbolize a way to reclaim power, said Copenhaver.
..... "I think more women are taking control of their life," she said. "I think people don't wan to be told they can't own something: they're not allowed to do it. I think that is sparking (interest) a lot."
..... Isn't that what it's like as a kid? You're not allowed to do it. What do you want to do?"

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