When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the US, it wasn’t just a deadly virus that swept the country. It also ushered in a period of unprecedented access to firearms.
New gun ownership surged, particularly in Black, Latino and Asian American communities, alongside rising anti-Asian hate crimes, police violence and a general climate of fear. In the past, spikes in gun purchases tended to occur in conservative states, in response to changes in gun policy. “For the first time ever,” said Paul Nestadt, a suicide researcher and co-director of the Johns Hopkins suicide prevention working group, “there were more guns bought in blue states than red states.”
