Still, those moments can spur devotees to their favorite gun store, said Mr. Lowder, a retired brewery worker and truck driver who had come from Lenoir, N.C., to buy an AR-15. “When you’re told you can’t have something, the first thing you want to do is get it.”

Even so, Mr. Lowder also said that the “unreal” number of customers he saw in Mr. Hyatt’s store last week was likely more about the fear of what could happen with the pandemic.

“When you’re told that the coronavirus is going to get you, and the TV and everything is just swamped with it, people start believing it, and they get scared,” he said, adding that he also bought 300 rounds of ammunition, triple what he normally would buy.

Some ammunition suppliers said they also have seen a sharp jump in sales. Alex Horsman, the marketing manager at Ammo.com, said the past few weeks have marked the largest spike in orders in the five years he has been with the online company.

The company said it recorded two-thirds more transactions in the 11 days after Feb. 22 — when Google Trends indicates that search interest for “coronavirus” began a new surge — than in the 11 days prior. Buyers in North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas led the increase in sales.

As customers have been flooding into gun stores, demand appears to be outstripping supply among some wholesalers, said Andy Raymond, the owner of Engage Armament in Rockville, Md. “We’re getting stuff from distributors,” he said, “who are saying, ‘Hey, due to high volume, we’re delayed in shipping.’”