Ryan Laun lives with his wife and two children in a neighborhood he considers safe. He has police officers for neighbors. But in late March, as the coronavirus pandemic was changing the way we live, the family decided to get a gun. The unsettled state of the world clinched it. “It was just an eerie, uncertain time.There was nothing left in grocery stores,” said Laun, 37, who works for an insurance company. Months later, with police-related protests and civil unrest across the country, he is even more certain about the purchase. “I’m not a doomsday prepper. I’m just a normal, go-to-work, 9-to-5 person,” he said. Owning a gun “gives us that added comfort.” He’s not alone.  While the government doesn’t track gun sales, FBI statistics show that 3.9 million firearm background checks were initiated in June compared to 2.3 million in June 2019. (Those numbers, while indicative, don’t represent the specific number of guns sold.) According to a May survey of gun retailers by the industry trade association National Shooting Sports Foundation, 40 percent of customers in the first four months of 2020 were first-time buyers. This month, the industry group estimated nearly five million new gun owners so far this year. “And that’s staggering,” said Dave Workman, spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation and editor-in-chief of TheGunMag.com. Ryan G. Thomas, owner of Tampa Carry and Carry University, where they teach beginner, advanced and Florida concealed carry gun courses, said some days they have gotten more than a thousand calls, which was unprecedented. Students have said they never thought they would own a gun, he said. “People don’t believe it’s going to get any better anytime soon,” Thomas said. “Most people believe this is the new normal for at least the next couple years, because society is just basically out of control.”  [full article]