About 1.9 million guns have been sold in the US in March amid the spread of coronavirus, The New York Times reported. 

According to the source, these figures were almost record-breaking: more firearms - 2 million units - were sold only in January 2013 after the inauguration of the 44th US President Barack Obama, who advocated tightening the rules for selling weapons, and the initial Sandy Hook School in Newton, Connecticut, in December 2012.

According to the source, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Americans rushed to buy not only canned beans or toilet paper, but also guns.

“People are nervous that there’s a certain amount of civil disorder that might come if huge numbers of people are sick and a huge number of institutions are not operating normally,” said Timothy Lytton, a law professor at Georgia State University and an expert on the gun industry. “They may have an anxiety about protecting themselves if the organs of state are starting to erode.”

Earlier, the administration of US President Donald Trump said that arms stores are vital enterprises, and therefore they should remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic, as pharmacies, gas stations, and grocery stores do.