ORLANDO, Fla. – With more than 30 years of selling guns under his gun belt, John Lassiter, of Addison’s Gun Shop in Kissimmee, has seen his industry revolve between gun-lows and gun-highs.
“I call this a ‘gun run.’ We have been through gun runs before,” Lassiter said.
Using data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the agency responsible for running firearm background checks for those purchasing guns, shows that in the first 10 days of 2021, background checks were up 71%.
Industry leaders said the boost is driven by many first-timers: people buying guns for the first time.
“A lot of people in the firearms business say 2021 is going to make 2020 look like a normal year,” Lassiter said.