This year has seen a massive surge in gun purchases in both Republican and Democratic states

Past research has shown that when Republicans are afraid for their safety, or when they are concerned about gun laws being tightened, they buy more guns. In new research which uses background checks as a stand-in for gun sales, Matthew Lang determines that there have been eight million ‘extra’ gun sales in both Republican and Democratic states in 2020 compared to previous years. Using Google Trends data, he finds that this surge in gun buying is likely to be linked to many Americans’ growing fears about their personal safety.