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(Trends Wide) — The two professionals and colleagues, still in work clothes, were part of the busiest period at the South Shore shooting range.
Muffled shots rang out Thursday from a parking lot on a quiet street lined with giant oak trees and lined with homes with backyard pools in suburban Islip.
Jenn and Shelby, friends who do not want their last names used, set up in two indoor shooting lanes, donning noise-canceling headphones and goggles as they aimed rifles and pistols at targets representing the human body.
“I’m not entirely a novice. I’m just getting started. I’m looking to buy a gun,” said Jenn, who has a gun permit but is still undecided on what her first gun will be.
“I try to get some practice at the shooting ranges. I wouldn’t say that I’m an enthusiast but rather that I try to learn”.
Jenn and Shelby are part of a growing number of Americans, particularly women and people of color, in an extended national splurge of gun purchases, many for the first time.
The increased interest in guns comes amid a horrific wave of mass shootings and — according to the latest figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — firearm deaths outnumbered motor vehicle traffic deaths 48,830 to 45,404. In the past two weeks, four people have been shot, one fatally, in upstate New York, Kansas City and Texas after accidentally going the wrong direction or opening the wrong door.
The number of instant criminal background checks, both state and national, which are required processes before you can buy a gun and a rough indicator of how many people buy or possibly receive a gun permit, increased during the pandemic from less than 30 million to almost 40 million, according to the National Instant Criminal Record Verification System.
“The fear of the unknown and the chaos of the pandemic was the motivating factor,” Shelby, a resident of Suffolk County on Long Island, said of his reason for buying a gun.
“I’m not sure I felt uncomfortable where I lived. It was more like a what’s going to happen later type of thing because everything just got crazier and crazier.”
“The face of gun ownership is changing”
Shelby, who asked that her last name not be used, bought rifles during the pandemic. Trends Wide
The uncertainty of the pandemic and the national protests following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police helped stimulate the nation’s appetite for guns.
One in five American households bought a gun between March 2020 and March 2022, according to NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research institution. One in 20 Americans bought a gun for the first time during that period.
“I’m not sure the chaos is over, and I feel like a lot of people have guns and it would be nice to have them,” Shelby said, echoing many Americans anxious about the uncertain state of the country. “I’m a single woman. I live alone. Why not protect me?”
In fact, gun ownership rates among women and African-Americans were on the rise before the health crisis, said Dr. Matt Miller, a professor of health sciences and epidemiology at Northeastern University, who conducted a study with researcher from Harvard Deborah Azrael.
“Sometime between 2016 and 2019, the new gun owners were more likely to be women and black than before, and whether it’s in response to a feeling that things are getting out of hand, the country is really divided, it’s a tempting speculation,” Miller said, referring to changing demographics among gun owners.
The Northeastern and Harvard study found that nearly 3% of American adults, or 7.5 million people, bought guns for the first time between January 2019 and April 2021. About half of new gun owners were women , 20% were black and 20% were Hispanic. Overall, gun owners were 63% male and 73% white.
“The face of gun ownership has changed a bit and people who become new gun owners today are less likely to be male and more likely to be non-white, more likely to be slightly younger than the owners. of existing and old weapons,” Miller explained.
Miller said that the increase in the possession of weapons in the United States is worrisome. His study noted that the risk of death from suicide, homicide, and unintentional injury increases substantially with gun ownership.
“It would be nice if those considerations were part of the decision to become a gun owner,” he said.
Pistols and shotguns moving briskly
Mike Marinello, owner of South Shore Shooting Range and South Shore Sportsman gun store in the town of Merrick, said 40% of his customers come from New York City.
And even in a state like New York, where gun ownership is heavily regulated, business at its two gun shops and shooting range is booming. Pistols and shotguns move briskly.
“Most people come as new gun owners looking for something for self-defense or spend a lot of time with curious people. Asking about the process. How do you do it?” said Marinello, a former housing police officer in the Bronx.
“A fairly large portion of our current clientele are women. We sponsored a women’s shooting group… Right now there is no clear line—Republican, Democrat or Independent—to buy guns.”
Marinello said gun sales always spike after big shootings, amid concerns that politicians will pass tougher gun control legislation.
“Right after, in most states, it would lead to increased sales because everyone watches the news and even though it’s a terrible event, everyone says the same thing: ‘There’s going to be a new law,’” he said.
In states like New York, there is a backlog of gun permit applications, Marinello said.
“There’s a rush to get in there and get what they think they’re going to lose.”
Dirty Harry style revolvers and pink camo shotguns
On Thursday, Marinello showed William Chen, 65, a 9mm pistol that the New York City resident is in the process of purchasing. Marinello placed the unloaded Smith & Wesson in Chen’s right hand.
“You understand that this gun will not fire unless you first remove the hammer,” Marinello told his client.
“Take your thumb. She dismounts the hammer back. That’s the first time this will be able to shoot. Then it will activate the safety when you are not shooting. When you’re ready to fire, pull the safety down and then you’ll pull the trigger.”
Chen used to run a self-service laundry and is now retired. He said that he already has a couple of rifles and another pistol. Chen, a gun owner for about two years, initially said he bought the guns for personal protection, but later emphasized that he enjoyed target practice at a gun range in Queens.
“I’m so happy,” he said of his biweekly visits to the shooting range. “Now I enjoy my life.”
Marinello prides himself on the inventory of his two gun shops, selling everything from Dirty Harry Magnum revolvers capable of taking down a bear to pink camo pump shotguns designed for smaller shooters.
“Forget color for a minute,” Marinello said, pointing to the pink shotgun. “This would be something that we would show to young people or short people instead of a stock that is two inches longer.”
“I’ve been wanting to buy one for years”
At Marinello’s Gun Shop and Shooting Range in Islip, Shelby and Jenn finished up their afternoon target practice. A friend and gun enthusiast was his instructor.
“I have a Ruger and a Rossi, both rifles,” Shelby said. He bought his rifles during the pandemic on the recommendation of a relative.
Shelby assured that she will complete the paperwork for her gun permit. She said the entire process could take a year and a half to two years before she can buy a firearm.
“All my friends now have licenses,” Shelby said, muffled bursts of gunfire in the background. “I would like to hone my skills. I enjoy shooting. I’m a good shot.”
Her friend Jenn commented that she lives alone, so she wants a gun “probably mainly for safety, but I enjoy coming to the range and shooting. I’ve wanted to buy one for years.”
Jenn said that she has tested various pistols at the shooting range. He liked a Smith & Wesson 9mm, but hasn’t made up his mind yet.
“I just shot a few now,” he commented. “So I try to find a good feeling, to figure out which one I want to buy.”
He added: “I try to be responsible… It’s actually good to be uncomfortable with a gun. If you ever feel comfortable with a gun, that’s not good.”
