As noted earlier this week, it seems that gun sales hit yet another record as people remained concerned about COVID-19 as well as the coming economic crisis. We’ve watched month after month as gun sales have continued to grow.

People were worried and for damn good reason.

Now, though, they’re downright terrified. After all, how many cities can you have burning before people get scared? As a result, it seems even more people are going out and buying guns.

Several gun stores in Central Alabama say they saw a jump in firearm and ammo sales Monday in reaction to Sunday night’s vandalism following a day of peaceful protests in downtown Birmingham.

“Everyone is making ammo runs,” said Alabama Guns and Outdoors Owner Russell England about sales Monday, a response, he says, to “(the) current state of the world.”

The store’s business was already booming, first from coronavirus, and again since nationwide protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

But you might be saying, “Sure, but that’s Alabama. It’s not like Alabama is an anti-gun location in the first place.”

Only, it’s not just Alabama.

It’s also Burbank, California:

Wow there are really long lines outside all the gun stores in #Burbank. Please be careful out there. Seems like people are preparing for more violence. pic.twitter.com/tx1tvNzuRl

— Ed Larson (@Eddietunes_) June 2, 2020

It’s also Long Island, New York:

Line up for a gun shop in Long Island right now. +50 people and over a 2 hour wait. pic.twitter.com/SOVAfoc3Gk

— Clarion Project (@clarionproject) June 2, 2020

Now, can you find two places more different politically than Alabama and Burbank or Long Island? Not without leaving the United States, at least, and yet we see long lines looking to buy guns. Why is that?

Well, it’s hard to explain, but the simplified version is that these riots shattered the worldview for many that allowed them to be anti-gun or, at least, Second Amendment agnostic. Before, they bought into the idea that gun control would somehow restrain criminal behavior. They thought that gun control worked.

Now, though, they have seen how much havoc can be created by groups of people who have no respect for the law. People have lost their homes, their businesses, everything. Lives have been shattered. Lives have been lost.

And people have been watching it all in HD.

Honestly, is it any wonder that people are flocking to gun stores in such diverse locations? If I didn’t have any guns, I’d sure as hell be buying right about now too.

While the media reports that things were quieter Tuesday night, no one can possibly know if that will hold or if that was the calm before the storm. As such, I hope more people buy guns. Of course, they’ll run right into the draconian restrictions that exist in many of these places that will likely keep them disarmed for a period of time, especially in California.

Regardless, though, it’s also likely that many of these people will likely view gun control differently moving forward. Unrest like that tends to clarify the mind just a bit. For that, I welcome them to this side of the fence. I don’t care what color they are, they’re welcome to learn and train and become advocates for the very Second Amendment they just took advantage of.

Of course, not everyone wants to advocate, and that’s fine too. I only ask they remember this come November and think about which party would prefer they still be disarmed.