A Trend Of First-Time Gun Owners Emerges In Arizona

By Lauren Gilger
Published: Monday, April 6, 2020 - 1:19pm
Updated: Thursday, April 9, 2020 - 12:46pm

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sign advertising guns and ammo
Sky Schaudt/KJZZ
A sign advertising guns and ammo outside a gun shop in north Phoenix.

Gun shops around the Phoenix area are reporting a sharp increase in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 25, the Arizona Republic reported that many of the buyers seem to be new to the game.

The Show reached out to multiple gun retailers in the area to discuss this trend, but received no response.

Instead, The Show spoke to Gerry Hills, the founder and president of Arizonans for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization which uses public health models to address gun deaths and injuries, and advocates for the safe storage of guns, background checks and training. 

Hills talked about how she feels about this trend of first-time buyers purchasing guns in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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