FBI background checks for gun purchases in New York in June more than doubled from a year ago, according to a new report.
Data shows the FBI processed 52,252 background checks for people seeking to buy firearms in the state in June — a 121% increase from June 2019, the New York Post reported Saturday.
“When the original COVID scare started in the beginning of March and people thought they might get laid off, at that point we saw a huge surge,” Cliff Pfleger, the owner of a Long Island gun shop, told the paper. “We sold out of almost everything we had in the store.”
He added, “We had lines continuously, even though we didn’t have things to sell. The people who are coming to the store — a lot of them were first-time firearm purchasers, and they obviously did not apply or have a handgun license.”