Gun shops struggling to keep up with increased firearm demand

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, gun sales reached record highs in 2020, but one Twin Falls man said local shops are struggling to keep up with the increased demand for firearms in 2021.

Forrest Andersen, who is the owner of Washington Street Pawn, told KMVT News Monday that he sells a little bit of everything when it comes to firearms.

“We have a pistol that was made in 1849, to current brand new production firearms,” Andersen said.

He said in 2020 his sales increased by 100 percent, and he believes the increased demand was related to COVID.

“COVID came and you saw we ran out of toilet paper. Well, the same thing happened with firearms, " Andersen said. “People were panicked so I guess the two things they thought they needed were toilet paper and firearms.”

The NSSF cited data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that “21 million background checks related to the sale of a firearm were conducted in 2020,” up 60 percent from 2019, and 40 percent of those sales were to first-time gun owners, equaling 8.4 million new gun owners in the United States.

“I have seen a lot of first-time buyers in the last year,“ said Gavin Andersen, who works at Washington Street Pawn. “And most of the time they don’t even know what they are looking for, so we try to help them as best we can.”

Forrest Andersen said the increase in firearms sales has led to a shortage, as distributors are having a difficult time keeping up with the demand.

“To give you an idea one of my distributors carries 3,500 different SKUs of handguns. I looked this morning and they had two handguns in stock,” Andersen said. “The difficulty isn’t selling the guns. The difficulty is finding something to sell.”

He said the trend of increased demand for firearms looks like it will continue into 2021 with a new Democratic president and three U.S. House Bills aimed at strengthening gun laws. Anderson said he is trying to find guns and ammo anywhere he can to keep up with demand.

“Gun ranges, individuals, estate sales, you name it,” he said. “The regular channels just arent providing enough for the people.”

At the end of the day, he thinks the market will probably fix itself with the way things are going.

“Now I would say the market is cooling a little bit because the problem is people can buy firearms but they can’t buy any ammunition to go with them,” Andersen said.

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