Covid lockdowns, protests and election strife led to record gun sales in 2020

At gun shops across the country, 2020 was a year of wild spikes in sales, especially to new customers anxious about the pandemic and a summer of protests. More firearms were sold last year than in any previous year on record.

But despite the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and an FBI assessment that extremist groups plan attacks on government institutions in the coming days, government and industry data indicate that the huge surges of buyers seen earlier in the year have not been repeated since the November election...