Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric towards Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama does not come in a vacuum. Millions of his most angry, paranoid and resentful supporters are already armed to the teeth — and right now they are out buying as many more guns as they can.

Federal background checks on potential gun purchases are running at record levels. They soared a stunning 37% in July alone, and are up by a third so far this year. They have surged in recent years every time people on the far right have feared the Democrats are about to win the federal elections.

There are already about as many guns in America as there are people, including not only hundreds of millions of handguns, rifles and shotguns, but also several million grenades, shoulder-fired rocket launchers, bombs and the like, and even half a million machine guns.

But the federal government had to field another 2.2 million background queries last month alone as customers flocked into gun dealerships. That was the busiest July ever for background checks, up 37% from the same month last year.

So far this year every calendar month has set a record.

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Oh, and this was before Trump’s recent meltdown, which has surely made his defeat in November ever more likely.

Background checks do not correlate one-to-one into sales, but they are the best real-time indicator we have of demand.

There’s no serious question that the surge in demand is coming from people on the right. Not only is there the long-running love affair between the far right and guns to consider, but demand is also strongly linked to rising right-wing fears of a Democratic electoral victory.

Sales jumped in late 2006, as the Democrats won control of Congress. They skyrocketed in late 2008 and again in late 2012, around the time of Obama’s two presidential victories. Since his first election the federal government has had to perform a staggering 148 million background checks.

Furthermore, as a Pew Research survey confirmed, gun owners are more likely to be older white men living in rural areas in the South, West and Midwest — in other words, the same demographic groups that lean to the right, and towards Trump.

The “gun game” is a brilliant business racket for Republican politicians, lobbyists at the National Rifle Association, and the people running gun companies.

Every election they tell their paranoid and angry base that liberal “gun grabbers” (yes, really) are going to “abolish the Second Amendment” and “ban” guns.

(Apparently this is so the public can’t fight back when the Liberals then try to impose Gay Commie Satanic Martial Law on America, with George Soros as Supreme Leader.)

Naturally, the only rational response for every patriotic, red-blooded, and, yeah, pink-skinned American is to get out there and buy lots more guns. And vote for their local Republican politicians. Oh, yeah, and to send more money to the NRA. Lots more!

Whether this rise in heavily armed paranoia will lead to political violence remains to be seen. We are in uncharted territory. When was the last time a U.S. presidential candidate hinted at the assassination of his opponent? It only takes one person.

But on the bright side, the paranoia should be great for people in the gun racket, at places like the NRA and Sturm, Ruger.