GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guns are in high demand and short supply nationwide and right here in the Triad.
The Guilford County Sheriff's Office said it's already issued more permits in seven months than it usually does in a whole year.
Atlantic Outdoors in Stokesdale said gun sales are up 400%.
"We're averaging 70 gun transactions a month and that's fairly good for a store that's just starting out," said Gate City Pawn Shop manager Kyle Lutterloh.
He didn't know what was coming for the shop when they opened in January but he said coronavirus boosted gun sales.
"We have seen an uptick in shotguns, a lot of people with pandemic and other things going on have been worried about home protection," Lutterloh said.
Many buyers are first-time gun owners with a lot to learn about the process.
"A lot of people aren't quite sure where to go and how to go about it. Especially right now, the courthouse has been kind of, open and closed for that service," Lutterloh said.
The Guilford County Sheriff's Office website said it's taking longer to process permits because of the high number of people buying guns.
Forsyth County is seeing it too. The Sheriff's Office reports more than 10,000 permits have been purchased in the last seven months--that's usually how many they sell in a whole year.
FBI statistics show June brought more than 90,000 gun background checks in North Carolina alone, the highest number of monthly background checks the state has seen in five years.
Stores like Lutterloh's see those buyers every day at the counter. He's been in the business for years and said gun sales usually go up in times of uncertainty.
Now it's hard to find even common guns.
"It just seems to be what everybody is finding comfort in is gun purchases," Lutterloh said, "It's very difficult to keep inventory right now. There's some firearms that are sometimes hard to sell and right now it's hard to even get your hands on them."
Buyers are good for business but he said one reason it's hard to keep up is that customers willing to sell their guns are rare.
"Right now it's not a lot of people out there wanting to get rid of their firearms so a lot of what we have comes from suppliers and different manufacturers," Lutterloh said.