Health Care Workers Cause Spike in Gun Purchases During Pandemic

Health care workers were not only on the frontlines of fighting the coronavirus, they also made up the majority of buyers in a surge of gun ownership.

A study from New Mexico State University and the University of Toledo found that 67% of people who said they bought a gun during the coronavirus pandemic worked in the health care industry. The researchers found that in the first few weeks of the pandemic, working as a health care professional was a strong predictor of firearm purchasing.

The Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski reported that those who purchased guns “were more likely to be younger, more urban, more female, and less white,” which is in line with the health care industry’s demographics.

“One of the things we should see, in my limited view, is these are people who are civilians who are not criminals and they have seen a lot of unrest in the past six months,” New Mexico State University professor Jagdish Khubchandani told Gutowski. “And they want to be on the front foot with their own safety.”

“America now has more job opportunities in health care,” Khubchandani added. “Almost 15 percent of Americans today have a job in health care. And as that demographic has changed, so has the gun-owning demographic, and they’ve intersected.”

Khubchadani directed Gutowski to two other recent studies, which found between 25% and 50% of physicians reported owning guns.

The study was designed to get responses from 1,432 adults working in the health care industry, from doctors and nurses to home health care assistants.

A study from John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center found that women and minorities were leading the increase in concealed carry permits, which has increased 34% over the past four years.

So many people are attempting to get the permits that some counties are experiencing long lines due to cutbacks amid the coronavirus pandemic. Further, the CPRC found that there are 820,000 more concealed carry permit holders today than there were in 2019, thanks in large part to women and minorities.

“Permits for women and minorities continue to increase at a much faster rate than for either men or whites,” Lott said in the report.

“There were 2.7 million concealed handgun permit holders in 1999, 4.6 million in 2007, 8 million in 2011, 11.1 million in 2014, and now 19.48 million in 2020,” the report said.

Fox News added that “among adults in the U.S., 7.6% now hold concealed carry permits, and this does not account for those living in the 16 states that do not require concealed carry permits.”

“This is despite continued restrictions against concealed carry in both California and New York. Taking those large populations out of the equation, the report says, the percentage of adults with concealed carry permits rises to approximately 9.2%,” the outlet added.