Gun sales jump in response to Trump shooting and Harris nomination

Gun sales turned up for the first time in nearly a year after last month’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and promises of firearm bans from Vice President Kamala Harris following her anointment as the Democratic presidential nominee.

While still high historically, sales month over month had slowed until the shooting and elevation of Harris, who selected liberal gun-grabber Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, as her running mate on Tuesday.

Gun sellers told Secrets that the combo has led to a sales spike and raised fears among owners.

“Business picked up a few percentage points at the end of July into early August, and I think we can thank Kamala Harris and the Democrat Party for that,” said Justin Anderson, marketing director for Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Daily FBI background checks turned upward after President Joe Biden was pushed out of his reelection, helping July record a higher number than July 2023.

The industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said July sales were over 1 million, marking five straight years of consecutive monthly sales of over 1 million. The group estimated sales over those five years of 86,410,889 firearms.

Before the Trump shooting and the elevation of former California Sen. Kamala Harris to Democratic presidential candidate, gun sellers and buyers had told Secrets that they didn’t expect politics to play a big role in sales this year.

But that has changed dramatically.

Matthew Miller, the CEO of the popular online seller sites CashForArms.com and FirearmLand.com, said his customers have expressed fear for their security and their ownership of guns following the assassination attempt and Harris nomination.

“While the incident itself triggered widespread anger, we saw relative calm in the days that followed, thanks to an uplifting and unifying Republican National Convention. Since that time, however, our customers have grown more and more suspicious about what took place that day,” Miller told us.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s flagrant stonewalling and lack of transparency smells like a cover-up. People watch cellphone videos of the shooter moving freely on the rooftop in plain sight of dozens of untrained civilians, they hear from local law enforcement that Secret Service has never conferred with them, they learn that requests for additional resources were denied, they witness all of this and simply cannot believe the Secret Service is this inept,” he added.

Miller also noted that promises on both sides to ratchet attacks down have ended, and the media have joined in to promote Harris and attack Trump. And, he added, Harris has decided to run a campaign that doesn’t answer any questions.

“She is asked, and she answers no questions. She is lauded for her sense of style. For both her ‘warmth,’ as well as her ‘toughness.’ Into the memory hole go all of her unpopular past policy positions. No need to explain,” he said.

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“This is the picture now emerging in the minds of many of our customers. They’re scared and getting more scared by the day as they watch the party array its forces for a no-holds-barred battle. They appear ready to do whatever it takes to consolidate power. If they do, as Kamala has plainly said in the past, they’ll be coming for your guns,” Miller said.

Anderson agreed, adding, “A Kamala Harris presidency will include some sort of ‘assault weapons ban.’ This is the first time in many years I’m confident in saying that.”