Gun and Ammunition Sales Surge In Southern Maryland

LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – In the midst of a global health pandemic, the Governor of Maryland issued an executive order that prohibits gatherings of 10 or more people, but this store is still full of people. Aisle after aisle, multiple shoppers can be found clearing off shelves of what some might deem as the essentials.

But this store doesn’t sell toilet paper. Nor does it sell milk or bread. What used to line those shelves was guns and ammunition. Now, they are bare.

“Y’all have any of that left in the back?” one shopper asks, pointing to where the 9mm ammunition used to be.

“We have out everything that we have left,” one of the employees behind the counter of The Tackle Box in Lexington Park tells him. “But I’ll tell you, we are supposed to be getting a truckload in tomorrow morning… We just weren’t expecting this to happen.”

But what is “this”?

“This” is the novel coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic, and this store like many others, is now seeing a rush of people trying to get their hand on a new firearm.

A loud metallic “CLICK” is heard from a male employee showing two first-time shoppers how to load a handgun magazine properly. It turns the heads of all seven people currently surrounding the gun-sales counter.

This is not the only demonstration this employee has given today, and it likely won’t be his last.

“Many first-time buyers,” an employee who only went by “Joe” described, which the store owner later confirmed. “It’s been like the [increased] handgun sales of 2016, but instead of regulated firearms and handguns, it has been shotguns… Many people coming in are learning how to load a shotgun for the first time.”

According to recent statistics from the online ammunition distributor Ammo.com, this trend of increased firearm and ammunition sales is a national trend that started spreading simultaneously with the coronavirus. From Feb. 23 to now, the site which sells bullets to all but four states, has nationally seen a 777% increase in revenue and a 350% increase in online traffic compared to the month prior.

Although likely breaking the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s(CDC) recommended “social-distancing” guidelines of being separated at six-feet, The Tackle Box’s Owner Ken Lamb leans up against a half-empty glass-case of handguns to talk about what might be driving business.

“We don’t know exactly why,” Lamb explained. “[When] all the politicians generate mass hysteria, this is what you get. Apparently, we have more to fear from fear than the actual disease.”

Lamb said business had been up since March 12, which is exactly one week after Maryland confirmed it had three official cases of COVID-19 on March 5. Today, total confirmed cases in the state are up well over 700.

Though somewhat vague, that “fear” Lamb mentioned has led to a number of changes seen by the close-quartered store: struggles to keep inventory on the shelves, a busier workforce in the store and a significant increase in waiting times for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System(NICS).

Anybody who purchases a handgun in the United States from a gun dealer has to go through NICS which is operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI). The process ensures that the applicant isn’t a convicted felon, among other things. Background checks that would typically be done in minutes, Lamb said are taking up to an hour and a half.

“What we do now is [tell customers] we’ll call you. And then they come back and pick the gun up,” Lamb said. “We’ll line up a whole bunch of transactions that our people are trying to do, and we will process them all at one time, and then start over again.”

“Overwhelmed” and “overloaded” were a couple of words Lamb used to describe how he believed the FBI has felt during this recent panic, but nevertheless he is still sympathetic for them.

“Nobody was expecting this,” Lamb explained. “When the hurricane comes in, you have to hunker down and wait till it gets over with. You can’t expect them to hire a whole bunch of people, and then things get back to normal and they’re sitting around.”

An FBI spokesperson provided the following statement to TheBaynet.com:

“The FBI is taking appropriate measures to ensure the safety of their employees while remaining committed to ensuring national security and pursuing violations of federal law. At this time, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System Section remains fully operational and will continue to process requests. The NICS Section appreciates the public’s patience during this period of national emergency.”

But Lamb isn’t letting the recent pandemic bring him down. His store garnered it’s name from what most people know it for: a go-to spot in Southern Maryland for fishing gear. In fact, his iconic road sign out front has two more things listed that he is more than content with selling.

“I guess if we run out of ammo, I’ll just go back to selling bait and tackle,” Lamb said with a smirk.