Gun Control

By the time the Niagara County Courthouse opened on Wednesday morning, 150 people were lined up to apply for permits that would let them carry concealed handguns. Nearly 100 had camped out overnight, with some staying awake in folding chairs, taking walks at intervals to keep warm.

The permitting office at the county courthouse, located in Lockport, N.Y., has been processing about 150 applications every day this week, officials said, part of a spike in demand before most provisions of New York’s new gun law go into effect on Thursday. Similar lines have formed outside permitting offices around the state ahead of the new rules, which are designed to tightly control firearms after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a century-old law regulating guns that was among the nation’s strongest.

More than 5 million people became first-time owners during the pandemic as gun sales to the community rose by about 43%

Vivian Moon, a real estate agent and artist, had never felt particularly afraid as a woman living alone in Buena Park, a small California city outside Los Angeles. But when violent attacks against Asian women and seniors increased across the US early last year, she became disillusioned with the police’s ability – and willingness – to protect people who looked like her.

So, like many other Americans of Asian descent, she decided to buy a gun. “I realized I have to take ownership of how I want to live my life,” said Moon, 33.

In the year since, Moon said she’s made an effort to reach out and teach her friends, many of whom are women of color, about gun safety. As a Korean woman who grew up in the 1990s, Moon is also inspired by the legacy of the Los Angeles uprising and the armed Korean immigrants who defended their businesses on rooftops when riots broke out in South Central. “Back then Korean Americans took a stand and took their safety into their own hands,” she said.