Arizona processed a record 82,771 background checks on would-be gun buyers in March, as fears of the coronavirus drove people to gun shops in what one shop owner called “panic time.”
It was twice as high as any March in the state since FBI background checks began in 1998 and almost one-quarter of the total sales in Arizona for all of 2019, according to NICS Firearm Checks data, which showed a doubling of background checks from February.
Gun shop owners said the only thing that has slowed down sales is a lack of inventory after March’s surge.
“People have just started panic buying at an insane rate,” said Wayne Semenko, owner of SnG Tactical in Tucson.
