Gun sales hit all-time high amid flurry of mass shootings
CBSN
In 2020, a surge in gun sales to an all-time was widely attributed to nationwide anxiety due to the pandemic as well as social unrest following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. A year later, even with the U.S. making significant strides vaccinating people against COVID-19, gun retailers say firearms sales are on pace to surpass their peak at the height of the global health crisis.
"We expect to sell more guns this April than any other April we've ever had," said Eric Wallace, who owns and manages Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Georgia. The 80,000-square-foot store, which opened in 1977, advertises itself as the nation's largest gun store. One factor driving gun purchases now is the latest round of federal stimulus payments distributed to most Americans, Wallace said, noting that Adventure Outdoors saw a jump in sales in March after the government started sending out the third check. He also thinks a temporary shortage of firearms in 2020 forced some consumers to wait until this year to buy a gun.Strong storms with damaging winds and baseball-sized hail pummeled Texas on Tuesday, leaving more than one million businesses and homes without power as much of the U.S. recovered from severe weather, including tornadoes, that killed at least 24 people in seven states during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Actor Richard Dreyfuss is facing backlash for allegedly sharing remarks that audience members found sexist, homophobic and generally offensive at a Q&A event over the weekend tied to a Massachusetts theater's screening of "Jaws." Dreyfuss starred in the 1975 blockbuster that was filmed in Massachusetts and screened Saturday night at The Cabot, a performing arts center in the coastal community of Beverly.
Another American who was arrested in the Turks and Caicos Islands for possessing ammunition was sentenced to time served and a $9,000 fine on Tuesday, local media reported. Tyler Wenrich was facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in prison for ammunition charges in the British territory.