Residents stocking up on guns amid COVID-19 outbreak

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- One of the by-products of the coronavirus pandemic is the dramatic increase in gun sales across America, particularly in areas that have been hit the hardest.

Frank's Gun Shop in Philadelphia's Holmesburg section had lines of people all weekend. They sold so many guns they had to shut down.

It was a similar sight at Delia's Gunshop in Mayfair.

"In five years I've owned this place I've never had lines out the door," said gun shop owner Kimber Zerweck.

He says it's been like this since Thursday and they have also been inundated with a large number of internet orders.

"It's a mixture of people who know what they wanna buy and other people who wanna buy because they're afraid of what's going on with the criminal element," said Zerweck.

"There's a lot of crazy things going around right now," said Mia Liu of Philadelphia's Juniata section.

Liu was shopping with her father who owns a convenience store.

"We just buy some things for the store and stuff like that just in case you know what I mean?" said Liu.

The 26-year-old from Northeast Philadelphia says she's just trying to protect herself and four young children in these extraordinary times.

"You never know what could happen, so I'm just buying ammunition right now, I already have a gun," she said.

"Trying to buy ammunition because of everything that's going on with the virus and stuff, it's horrible and I don't want to take any chances," said Angel Colon in Spanish.

Dr. Crystal Reeck, a professor at Temple University, says all this uncertainty with the coronavirus is causing a lot of anxiety and fear.

"And I think one of the ways people cope with anxiety and fear is trying to control what they can and trying to seek to sort of protect themselves and try to maintain as much security as they can for themselves," said Dr. Reeck.