Chicago area gun dealers say record sales since Jan. 6 driven by 'fear, plain and simple' [View all]

SPRINGFIELD — Gun dealers say they are selling more firearms than ever in the Chicago area since the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — and they predict sales will shatter the records set during last year’s civil unrest and in the early days of the coronavirus panic.

“It’s the busiest you could ever imagine. It’s been lines around the block, out the door, around my store every day since March,” said Jeff Regnier, owner of Kee Firearms and Training in far southwest suburban New Lenox.

“Now recently we had the storm of the Capitol. That has gun sales 10 times from what it was in the pandemic, which was already 10 times what your normal business was.”

Mark Glavin, owner of Fox Valley Shooting Range in Elgin, said he saw the same jump in the days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden. “The 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th [of January] were probably some of the highest gun sale days we’ve ever had.”

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/1/31/22257060/gun-dealers-record-sales-chicago-area-jan-6-fear-biden-trump-pritzker-firearms-state-police