Southern California Public Radio (KPCC 89.3) reports that, according to California Department of Justice data, gun sales in California are still surging in 2016, continuing an accelerated pace that began in the aftermath of the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
As of April 15, more than 44,000 firearms were sold in Los Angeles County alone. Orange and Riverside counties reported 21,000, and nearly 20,000 were sold in San Bernardino County. All the numbers reflect a dramatic increase over 2015—both in handguns and long guns.
In December 2015, the FBI received 253,946 requests for background checks from California, the first time that number exceeded 200,000 since they began keeping records in 1990. Every month since then has exceeded 200,000 checks.
Vince Torres, owner of Bullseye Sport in Riverside, told KPCC, “Everybody and their mother was coming out and just getting firearms” after the attack, in which 17 people were killed while attending a holiday party.
