It’s been an interesting year, and here’s another interesting bit; June 2020 saw the highest number of gun sale background checks ever conducted, just short of four million. Excerpt:
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, June 2020 saw the highest number of gun purchases since the FBI started keeping track 20 years ago. Further, this year’s June number increased over June 2019 by 135.7 percent. According to the unadjusted number from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, 3,909,502 background checks were conducted.
“These figures represent the highest June on record since the FBI began conducting instant background checks more than 20 years ago. The sharp increase in Americans buying firearms in June continues a trend we saw start in the spring. Civil unrest, rioting, looting and calls to defund police are unquestionably motivating factors of why this trend is increasing. Americans are right to be concerned for their personal safety. It’s entirely reasonable that law-abiding citizens are exercising their Constitutional right to purchase a firearm to protect themselves,” NSSF Director of Public Affairs Mark Olivia released in a statement.
But wait! There’s more!
In addition, the numbers for the first quarter of 2020 already far outpace the entirety of 2019.
“The second quarter 2020 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 5,451,599 reflects an increase of 92.8 percent over the 2,827,606 figure for first quarter 2019,” NSSF data shows.
Meanwhile, the Colorado primary election has an interesting wrinkle; five-term Congressman Scott Tipton has been unseated by an insurgent, Lauren Boebert, she of Shooter’s Grille fame. Excerpt:

Lauren Boebert delivered a stunning upset victory knocking off five-time incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, in Colorado’s 3rd U.S. Congressional District in the Colorado Primary Election on Tuesday night.
Boebert, who gained notoriety by openly wearing a pistol holstered to her thigh, has attacked the incumbent from the right for not standing up forcefully to object to left-wing members of the U.S. House, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
According to unofficial results from the Colorado secretary of state’s website as of 9:55 p.m., Boebert had 55,237 votes, or 54.38% of the vote, compared with 46,340 votes, or 45.62% of the vote, for Tipton.
Given the makeup of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, at least some Coloradans (yr. obdt. sadly not among them) are soon to be represented in the House by a lady who may be the staunchest 2nd Amendment supporter in Congress; an honest-to-gosh pistol-packing lady who would surprise no one if she strode into the House with her Glock in its customary place on her hip.
So what does this mean? Well, as I see it, a couple of things.
First: Gun control may well be a dead letter for a while. All of these new gun sales must have a hefty percentage going to first-time buyers, especially given the recent unrest in our major cities. It’s going to be hard, after the recent waves of rioting and looting, to convince many folks to meekly lay aside their arms, convinced that their local governments will protect them.
Second: What’s driving all these sales? What are these folks concerned about? Well, if I were to guess, I’d say is was the aforementioned rioting and looting.
I’d bet a few shekels that the next wave of rioters and looters may have a harder time of it. For a while there was some talk of the fomenters of the unrest expanding into small-town and rural environments, but the idea was quickly dropped, as the prospect of facing armed rural folks had a chilling effect. But now, the next wave may well find themselves facing similarly well-armed city and suburban denizens. Their masks will be a dead giveaway; in the words of one of my personal heroes:

Let us reflect upon the fact that a man who covers his face shows reason to be ashamed of what he is doing. A man who takes it upon himself to shed blood while concealing his identity is a revolting perversion of the warrior ethic. It has long been my conviction that a masked man with a gun is a target. I see no reason to change that view.
Colonel Cooper also said:
One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that ‘violence begets violence.’ I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure — and in some cases I have — that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.
I think that maybe, just maybe, recent events are turning more folks to a similar point of view on both counts.