How the coronavirus led to the highest-ever spike in US gun sales

The figure represents an increase of 1.1m over March 2019.

On 21 March alone, 210,000 checks were done, the largest one-day record ever.

According to US media, the FBI data indicates that over two million guns were purchased in March alone.

Illinois led with nearly a half million sales, followed by Texas, Kentucky, Florida, and California.

Gun shops across the country report that they are unable to re-stock shelves quickly enough to cope with the rush.

The latest figure also tops the previous high of 3.3 million, which was set in December 2015 after the Obama administration raised the possibility of restricting assault rifles in the wake of a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

Why are sales skyrocketing?

According to Georgia State University law school professor Timothy Lytton, an expert on the US gun industry, most new gun sales are being motivated by two factors that have been spurred on by the coronavirus crisis.

The first is the concern that civil society - fire, police and health services - could be severely "eroded" someday, leading to a breakdown in law and order. In such a case, a gun can be viewed as a "self-help" survival tool, he says.