There are estimates that we have 8,000,000 first-time gun owners over the past couple of years. Nearly half those were women, according to other studies.

I’ve said it before–historically, we were a nation of gun owners. I found a newspaper article describing New York City in the 1890s, saying that let a rabid dog run around Times Square, and you’d see how many people were carrying guns. Another New York City article from the early 20th century gave tips on creating a DIY shoulder holster. That trait was repressed during the 1960s, when gun ownership became unfashionable (or, to more precise, gun ownership among the masses became unfashionable to the elite). It took half a century for that to turn about, but it has turned. The present abandonment of certain cities to massed psychopathy, “defund the police,” and police stand-downs while “mostly peaceful” protests burned out cities has certainly raised everyone’s consciousness of the need to be able to self-defend.