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Businesses see increases amid fears

Mirror photo by William Kibler / Ryan Yahner of Patton (left) and Wayne Sutton of Altoona wait at the counter of Allegheny Trade Co. in Duncansville.

The man at Northern Supply in Juniata on Tuesday was a veteran, dressed in black, and he declined to give his name or even his initials, when he explained why people have been buying guns in response to the coronavirus epidemic.

It’s based on history that shows that within three days of a societal shutdown, “there’s complete unrest,” such as happened in Africa during the ebola epidemic, he said.

While shutdowns “absolutely” make sense to stop the spread of contagion, it’s nevertheless “when things fall apart,” because people, including addicts, run out of things they need, then take to the streets, where police aren’t numerous enough to control them, he said.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to protect yourself,” the man said.

Not everyone buying guns or ammunition in the Altoona area recently because of concerns over the coronavirus upheaval has an outlook quite as apocalyptic, but workers in three stores said business has increased as the crisis has spread and restrictions have tightened.

The increase at Northern Supply has been modest, according to owner Steve Mighells.

But Pioneer Gun shop has sold more firearms in the last two weeks than in any of its normally busy periods — Christmas and hunting season — over the past three years, said owner Lorrie Stirling.

“People are worried,” Stirling said.

Those worried people figure that individuals who are suffering because of government-imposed closures will soon be in need, which will mean more robberies and more home invasions, Stirling said.

People are buying “protection” guns, she said.

They’re handguns, many of them 9 mm models, she said.

Because the buyers want the guns immediately, they’re settling for what they can afford now, in contrast to how they buy in normal times, often shopping around and waiting until they can save for what they’d really like, Stirling said.

Prices for the guns in demand range from about $300 to about $1,000, Stirling said.

People who ordinarily wouldn’t be buying guns are, she said. That shows how fearful they are, she said. That scares her, because not all of them are properly prepared to handle their new weapons, she said.

Still, she understands and shares their concerns — although someone “would have to be a total idiot to try to rob a gun store,” she said.

Gun sales at Allegheny Trade Co. in Duncansville have increased by 15 to 20 percent in the last few weeks, as new customers come in out of concern over the virus, said owner Ken Westover.

Ammunition sales have increased by 50 percent because of the virus, including sales to regular customers who already have guns, Westover said.

Cora Clear and her boyfriend, Jeff Kephart, of Duncansville were inside Allegheny Trade for ammunition for guns they’d each purchased the day before.

“I don’t care about the coronavirus, but about how people are reacting to it,” Clear said. “People are losing their minds.”

She foresees the potential for restrictions that result in food shortages, leading to people doing “what they have to do to get food and whatever” for their families, she said.

She understands the motivation in such cases, but “I want to protect my family at all costs,” she said.

She grew up in a house with guns, learned to shoot early and was a junior member of the National Rifle Association, she said.

She’s hoping things won’t turn out so bad, “but you don’t know what the world will be when you wake up tomorrow,” Clear said. “People are panicking, scared and unpredictable.”

Better to be ready even if it ultimately turns out to have been unnecessary, than sorry you weren’t, she said.

At Pioneer, a man named Kong from Duncansville was buying a gun only partly due to concerns about coronavirus.

He’s wanted a gun for a while and didn’t realize the bureaucratic requirements in Pennsylvania were slighter than those he’s familiar with in California and New York, he said.

Society’s reaction to the new germ has made him uneasy.

It crystallized when he saw a local big box store was out of bottled water.

“It kind of feels like a crisis,” Kong said. “You never know what’s going to happen next.”

Not all gun store customers encountered Tuesday were there out of concern over coronavirus.

Mark Augustine at Allegheny Trade, a former Army combat engineer, thinks everyone should have a gun to protect their families and belongings, but he isn’t overwrought about the current situation.

Things won’t get as bad as people fear, he predicted.

Too many people get too much misinformation from untrustworthy news sources, he indicated.

“People are panicky animals,” said Wayne Sutton of Altoona, also at Allegheny Trade.

A veteran and former police officer who carries a gun wherever he goes, he nevertheless wouldn’t buy one because of the corona­virus if he didn’t already have one, he said.

The government closures aren’t going to mean the nation will run out of food or that money will lose all value, he said.

But his outlook on the necessity of carrying at this time would be different if the financial institutions in the U.S. were to collapse or there was “an attack on the heartland,” he said.

Likewise, Ryan Yahner of Patton, who was also at Allegheny Trade, doesn’t feel threatened by the current situation.

Like previous instances of disease, it’s cause for concern, especially for elderly or people with pre-existing health conditions, but it will pass, he said.

“It’s not the black plague,” Sutton said.

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