Gunning for a future

Malvernite discusses surging firearm ownership, and what’s driving the trend

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Several recently released studies show there doesn’t seem to be a slowdown in the country’s interest in gun ownership.

According to recent estimates provided by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 9.4 million guns sales were made in the United States in 2010, based on information derived from federal background checks. By 2014, the number rose to 13 million.

Another study conducted by Columbia University recently showed that one in three Americans owns a gun.

Malvernite Andrew Chernoff, however, doesn’t need to look at these studies to gauge the strength of gun ownership in recent years. Chernoff is owner of Coliseum Gun Traders, a Uniondale gun shop which he says is one of the busiest in Nassau County, and his store’s numbers reflect the upswing.

He credits the stronghold to a convergence of several different events: the election of President Obama, a rise in crime, Hurricane Sandy, and a young generation who’ve become interested in guns because of video games.

“After Obama was elected, there was an increase in the interest in handgun licenses,” said Chernoff. “Typically, Democrats are anti-guns, so the people who wanted them were buying them because they thought they weren’t going to have them in the future.”

Feeding onto that frenzy was the bad economic climate at the time, which prompted people with the need to protect themselves, Chernoff said. Shortly after that, Hurricane Sandy hit and devastated much of Long Island. “Our numbers during Hurricane Sandy flew crazy,” said Chernoff. “People started realizing that they needed to protect themselves because the police were overwhelmed — and there were less of them than in previous years — so more guns were being bought. According to numbers cited by the Nassau County Police Department last week, Nassau County had 2920 sworn members in December 2000. In April 2015, this number had decreased to over 20 percent to 2,234 sworn members.

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