People are stockpiling assault-style rifles after the Florida school shooting
Gun sales are surging after the Florida school shooting that killed 17 students and staff members.
Criminal background checks for gun sales rose 3.5% in Florida in the month of February, Bloomberg reports.
Background checks for long guns, which includes assault-style rifles like the one used in the Parkland school shooting, surged 12.6% in the state.
Sales of assault-style rifles are surging in the aftermath of the school shooting that killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14.
Criminal background checks for gun sales — a key metric for estimating the demand for guns — rose 3.5% in Florida in the month of February, compared to the previous year, Bloomberg reports.
Background checks for long guns, which includes assault-style rifles like the one used in the Parkland school shooting, surged 12.6% in the state. Nationwide, that metric rose 3%.
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Gun sales typically surge after mass shootings, due to rising fears over tightening gun controls.
But under President Donald Trump, gun sales have slowed — a trend that has been called the "Trump slump" — because he's seen as supportive of the gun industry.
The recent rush of demand for guns indicates that "fear-based buying" is back, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brett Andress.
It "starts to beg the question: Is fear-based buying back? Given all the recent headlines and rhetoric, we would argue yes, for the moment," Andress wrote in a research note.
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