Kumbaya or Git, Neighbor
Terry H. Schwadron
April 3, 2020
Hey, can we talk about all that good will out there, the Kumbaya celebration of commonality and 7 p.m. applause for heroes and helping our neighbors?
Coronavirus is a different beast in many ways, but heralded for prompting an outpouring of good will and shared sense of purpose, unless you are one of those people who insist that the disease spread is all a hyper-sold plot by some group you don’t like.
But right after you persuade yourself that hoarding toilet paper is more oddity than dangerous, and once you dismiss from your mind the churches and synagogues that have decided that prayer trumps public contagion, and once you can ignore the gas station clerk in Wisconsin who refused a Korean-American doctor service because he blamed this “hero” for bringing coronavirus from China, well, then, there are still the guns.
Gun sales and ammunition sales are way up. The same kind of run there was on toilet paper is now aimed at guns, and it is not, as so often argued, for hunting. Nope, this is straight-up fear, and not for the virus. This is about whether the gun-owner needs to protect his or her family against you taking his toilet paper.
FBI figures show that the agency completed 3.7 million background reviews in March, the highest number it has ever reported and a surge of about 850,000 from February.
Indeed, the feelings about the need to continue to stock up on ammunition are leading to reports of shortages, and prompted a serious lobbying campaign in Washington that has resulted in federal guidance to keep gun and ammunition stores right alongside hospitals, groceries and pharmacies on the list of emergency services to be maintained throughout the crisis.
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As Poltico.com reported, “Even in the time of pandemics, politics still plays a role. As Americans settle into a new way of life, culture war battles have broken out over the Second Amendment, as well as abortion and voting rights. So far, though, President Donald Trump’s White House has intervened most directly on the question of gun purchases.”
As governors started ordering staggered community shutdowns over the last four weeks, telling non-essential businesses to close, a lobbying blitz that included calls to both the outgoing and incoming chiefs of staff and a White House aide who used to work for the National Rifle Association, the administration revised its initial guidelines and declared gun stores and shooting ranges to be critical businesses, Politico reported.
And there are news reports from Alaska to Wisconsin to the northeast that sales are booming. In Alaska, Alaska Ammo owner Cody Brons told a tv reporter that his store shelves empty as soon as they are refilled. “It’s been absolutely insane, nothing like we’ve ever seen before,” he told KTUU. “A lot of people are scared and want to protect their families and make sure they have enough to get them through,” Brons said.
The biggest sellers are calibers for semi-automated style rifles and big-caliber handguns. Distribution is said to be running out nationwide. For Brons, a normal three week supply sells in three days.
Apparently there are two drivers here: A fear among gun buyers that society is unraveling and a fear that the government might use its emergency powers to restrict sales. Not really mentioned aloud as often is a kind of greed that may pit neighbor against neighbor over supplies of all sort. And fear of looting.
A Wisconsin man told a national news outlet that he bought a rifle and ammunition after encountering aggressive shoppers and empty grocery shelves. Now, if looters come knocking, he’ll be ready, he said. “There’s so much uncertainty and paranoia but you’ve got to protect your own.”
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A Philadelphia surgical fellow pleaded in a New York Times op-ed for people to put away their guns. She explained that in the middle of trying to deal with the horror of overcrowded intensive care units to handle coronavirus patients, instead she must treat the ever-rising number of gunshot victims at her urban hospital.
But we’re worried about the surge of a virus that may so swamp hospitals that we are canceling elective surgeries in state after state, how do we explain a White House guidance to ignore the fact that gunshot victims are taking up hospital beds. How many accidental deaths from more children staying at home? How many are from outlaw guns that are being used in domestic violence cases, exacerbated by lengthy isolation? How many are suicide attempts?
We have no idea. All we know is that the federal government was advising gun shops be closed until the White House changed the rules following a lobbying campaign.
As Politico tells it, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents retailers, manufacturers and distributors, led the push for new guidance, speaking directly to outgoing acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and incoming chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well Vice President Mike Pence’s office, and Mulvaney counselor Michael Williams, a former law clerk for the NRA’s lobbying arm who later served as lawyer for the American Suppressor Association, an industry group pushing silencers. The group lobbied the Homeland Security Department and governors and mayors.
Still the decision is up to states. Pennsylvania allowed gun shops to be open for business while Washington state shut them. In California, the Los Angeles County sheriff has ordered them to close. About half of the states based their order on the federal guidelines, according to the federal government.
Let’s not forget that Donald Trump got early and substantial help from the NRA and has publicly continued his support for guns by opposing restrictions — despite awful mass shootings.
Neither Trump nor the White House have had anything to say about this.
So, as you adjust your mask, keep an eye peeled for a threat that apparently can’t be spoken aloud.
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