-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Buck Boring, owner of Buck’s Guns in Fort Dodge, stands among his nearly empty shelves and thinly stocked rifle racks after a spate of COVID-19 pandemic panic buying by local residents.

Buck Boring, the owner of Buck’s Guns just south of Fort Dodge, has had a couple of busy weeks.

Gun buyers, many of them new to firearms ownership, have reduced his inventory to a shadow of what he normally has in stock.

“Ammo is fully wiped out,” Boring said.

The run on guns, like the run on toilet paper, was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It sends them into a panic,” he said. “Guns, food. I’d like to figure out what the next panic is.”

Reflecting a national trend, Boring has seen many first time buyers. It’s put him in the role of educator, both in basic gun handling and also on Iowa’s gun laws.

“There’s people who don’t know how to load a gun that are buying,” he said. “This just scared the hell out of people.”

For the first time handgun buyers that came in, he’s had to patiently explain that in Iowa, you have to have either a purchase permit or a carry permit to buy one. Those permits are issued by the sheriff in the county the buyer resides in. No permit, no handgun.

“I spent a lot of time explaining why you have to have a pistol permit to buy a handgun,” he said. “They get upset. You can’t just walk out the door with it. A lot of them found out it doesn’t work that way, some of them were shocked.”

For rifles and shotguns, no permit is needed, but Boring still has to call in to have the sale approved through the instant background check system. The buyer also has to complete a form. Those background checks are usually approved very quickly but on occasion, they will delay the sale.

Sharp increases in gun and ammunition sales are usually political. The election of a president with perceived anti-Second Amendment views or a gun control bill with a likelihood of passage will both send buyers flocking into gun shops.

The last panic buying spree was after the re-election of President Barack Obama.

What guns sold first were a little different than previous runs. The last one was mostly modern sporting rifles often erroneously referred to as “assault rifles.” This time, it was handguns that were in high demand.

“High capacity handguns. ARs and AKs were right up there,” Boring said. “Then they filtered down to whatever they could get their hands on, whatever they could buy.”

Ammunition buying differed as well. During the previous panic it was .22 rimfire ammunition.

“This time .22s were the last to go,” he said. “Handgun, AR/AK went first then .22s. Oddly, they wiped all the deer slugs out.”

The sharp increase in demand goes all the way up the supply chain, Boring said.

“I have an order I placed on March 30,” he said. “They shipped it today.”

Normally, Boring said. sales tend to be fairly stable for most of the year. He said that July and August are usually the slowest months.

While he appreciates the extra business, he urges anyone considering buying a firearm who doesn’t have any ownership experience to think it over.

“Always use your head and think before you buy a firearm,” he said. “A firearm isn’t for everybody.”