As a gun shop owner, Scott Albright has seen huge increases in gun and ammunition sales during election years or sometimes in a societal crisis.

When places recently started closing due to the coronavirus, he said to his friend, "Here we go; everyone is going to be buying guns."

He meant it as a joke. But then he got a call at 6 a.m. a few days later asking when his shop, Albright Gun Works LLC in Hartland, was open. Since that call, he said, his sales have doubled.

Especially over the weekend, he said.

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"Ammo and gun sales are insane. It has not been like that since the last election," said Albright. He also said he saw gun sales spike in 2012-14 when the government was buying up a lot of ammunition and people feared they would take products away from civilians.

"It (gun sales) is like the stock market. You can kind of predict, but never be certain," he said.

State Department of Justice data gives us a good idea how much gun demand has spiked in Wisconsin. They conduct a background check on every attempted handgun purchase.

DOJ averaged about 380 background checks per day in 2019. Since Friday, they have averaged 1,452.

The peak (so far) of 1,943 checks on Tuesday was just short of the 2,152 checks from Black Friday 2019.

Albright said he has recently seen a dramatic increase in first-time owners, who buy handguns, and more seasoned owners, who are investing in AR-15s.

Increased gun sales amid the coronovirus pandemic appear to be a trend nationwide, according to a report by USA Today. USA Today also reported that according to Ammo.com, there has been a 68% increase in ammunition sales between mid-February and early March.

'People are worried and scared'

With the recent surge in gun sales, local gun shop owners have their own theories about why.

Paul Lippold, owner of Ron’s Gun Shop in Germantown, said the sale of firearms "went crazy" March 14 and 15.

He said he noticed an uptick in firearms sales midweek. Lippold said that, based on his conversations with customers, it became clear that almost all of them were first-time gun buyers looking for guns for self-defense if, in their words, "things got crazy."

The spike in gun sales wasn't only a Germantown phenomenon. In Waukesha, Fletcher Arms has seen the kind of sales increases that was simply hard to quantify, said co-owner and office manager Megan Eaton.

Asked if sales have increased as the coronavirus scare has evolved, she just laughed.

"Seven thousand percent," Eaton said, still laughing, as a string of customers, two or three deep, lined the long and narrow sales desk adjacent to the shop's gun range Tuesday afternoon. "I don't think that it's measurable right now."

From what she has heard from customers, they've walked into the store "because they don't know what's going to happen" as the viral threat plays out.

"People are worried and scared," Eaton said.

It's not the first time Fletcher's has seen a significant increase in gun sales during a defined period. The last time was when Wisconsin approved legislation for concealed carry permits in 2011. But the emotion behind those sales more than eight years ago was different, she said.

"I feel like people were more excited then, and not scared and worried," Eaton said. "Percentage-wise, that was much more training focused."

Fear of not being able to buy guns

Albright theorized that guns may run out and that now is the time to buy. "I think people who have not owned a gun thought of it," said Albright. "And now they think that this is the time to buy one."

He also said there was talk in Illinois that some sales may be banned due to the coronavirus. According to WAND-TV, based out of Decatur, Illinois, the mayor of Champaign, Deborah Frank Feinen, issued an executive order that would give her the authority to ban guns on a temporary basis.

"People are worried that may happen here," he said. "I believe there is the ripple effect for this."

Albright said that people are afraid that supplies of guns and ammunition will run out, with stores closing and inventory being low. This provides motivation for people to buy guns, he said.

Distrust of government

Eric Grabowski, owner of MGS Firearms, said he still manufactures gun products, but stopped doing retail in January.

Because they still come up as a gun shop on a Google search, Grabrowski said, he gets a new phone call every two minutes.

“We could have been making a lot of money right now,” he said. “My phone will not stop ringing.”

He said that many distributor websites are running low on products. “There is like nothing left," he said. "There is no ammunition available and no reasonable-priced hand guns.”

Grabrowski's theory is that people feel they need to buy guns to be safe because of a general distrust and lack of faith in the government to keep order.

"That is the nature of the beast. People feel the government is not telling us everything," he said.

He said that when times are good, people do spend extra money on firearms, and when times are tough, they want to protect what they have.

Concerns about safety

Albright agreed that safety concerns can drive sales.

When 71-year-old Vietnam veteran Ralph Charette of Germantown saw the empty store shelves and read about the spread of the coronavirus, he bought a $1,500 AR-15 rifle March 14.

"It (the AR-15) is for the apocalypse," said Charette. "I read this all on the internet, and that is my take on it.

"It (the rifle) is to protect my family and property," he said of his gun purchase.

Albright predicts that the increased sales will level off in June and pick up again before the November election.

"But right now, (the coronavirus) is boosting sales through the roof," said Albright.

- Jim Riccioli and Eric Litke contributed to this report.

Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or cathy.kozlowicz@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KozlowiczCathy.