Increased telecommuting = increased interest in firearms?

I seriously doubt it.

We've seen a lot more interest in non-traditional folks buying guns lately. But I don't see a correlation between working at home and gun ownership, at least not yet. But who knows, that could be a factor at some point

I’m just waiting until all those folks dump all those guns back into the market.

whughett said:

I’m just waiting until all those folks dump all those guns back into the market.

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Yea, I was hoping the same would happen when the Deadpool movie came out, but sadly I never saw a major dump of Desert Eagle .50AE guns.

That being said, work-from-home means there's been a statistical up-tick in people being home during daylight robberies. We even had a couple in my sleepy little town fairly early on.

There being less commuting from firearms-friendly places, such as PA and some NE areas, into such places restrictive places as NYC, some number of folks are with their firearms much more of the time, which could result in increased carry time. This could have a gradual effect of more folks finding the possession and carry of firearms to be normal and familiar.

As member sota indicated, in the above post, burglars who used to burgle commuters’ unoccupied homes are now more likely to be encountering homeowners, which may well drive a demand for defensive weapons.

I wonder whether inner-city robbers/muggers, deprived of their usual commuter prey, are commuting outward, into the suburbs and exurbs? Interesting.

P5 Guy said:

I seriously doubt it.

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Sorry, I disagree. I think the OP's got an interesting point and I think there may be something to it. When working at home your time is your own to schedule, and if you can get the work done in less time you have more free time. More free time leads to a need to find something to do with it. A more rural environment leads to more interest in doing stuff out of doors. The OP's premise makes sense to me. I don't know if it'll play out. And if the shortages continue the barriers to participate may be too high. We'll see, I guess.

I suppose it's possible, but not that likely. Moving to the country was one of the motivators for me to buy my first handgun.

I moved to the country 26 years ago. Being more isolated and dealing with various pests prompted my first firearm purchases.

After the first couple, the rest was just the addiction!

Rexster said:

I wonder whether inner-city robbers/muggers, deprived of their usual commuter prey, are commuting outward, into the suburbs and exurbs? Interesting.

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I would not be surprised if that were to occur.

My town already gets its fair share of out of town criminals that get arrested. Everything from retail theft gangs to murder. My town is right off I95 so we get criminals from Miami and Jacksonville.

We even have a couple of home invasions were the peeps were from out of town

It is not just feral humans, that are a concern, if one chooses to live farther outside of a large city. This happened within a long, but reasonable commute, from Houston, Texas:

https://abc13.com/feral-hogs-kill-woman-in-front-yard-of-chambers-county-home-/5716849/

Even closer to Houston, about 20 miles, as the crow flies, from downtown, a feral hog, being pursued by feral dogs, smashed THROUGH THE WALL of a detached garage, at my mother’s home.

I think those that are moving to more rural or suburban areas are getting away from the civil unrest. Maybe gun buying is a side effect to those getting away and being prepared but don't see it being because they can work from home.

Here in the 'burbs we have wild turkeys and a few deer. If the rule of law and the food supply chain totally break down those that have rifles or shotguns at least won't go hungry.

I live in a bedroom community as part of a large metro area and have been working from home since January. I was already set up firearm-wise, with LTC, et cetera.

I do carry more because my current work takes me to visit places I wouldn’t ordinarily go in an office setting. And I am out and about on personal business more than I used to be.

we have had a little uptick in daylight burglaries and have planned accordingly for shenanigans around my compound. However, this is also happening more frequently at night as well.

If I’m doing this I guarantee others are too.

but as far as hunting and stuff as per OP, no, I’m betting they arent developing interest other than the occasional trip to the range with whatever house gun they just bought.

It's possible but there has been a huge uptick in sales due to other factors so I'd guess it'd be impossible to isolate that one variable at this moment. Working from home the majority of time allows me to reload more and also makes range trips at 3:00 in the afternoon much easier.

I suspect anyone moving from a more urban to a rural area will take their politics with them. So while it's possible they could get more involved in shooting sports, it's also likely they'll continue to vote for what they think is "sensible gun control".

It's very possible.
One of the worst things about WFH is that it's always there.
About the only "escape" (especially in lock down areas) was to open another window on the computer and go browse for stuff--like on Bud's, Brownell's, GB, and the like.
For ammo and components (generally) you did not even need to leave the house.

Also, as the 'distancing' continued, there was more time not wasted on commuting, or in the normal ebb-and-flow of work, to sneak off to the range or the LGS.

Is any of that prove-able? Clean dunno. Some is projection from my own experience. Some from the related experience of others I know. It's a limited population set to draw any conclusions from. (A lot of zeros after the decimal point in dividing 30 or 40 or so and 340 million.)

bassjam said:

I suspect anyone moving from a more urban to a rural area will take their politics with them. So while it's possible they could get more involved in shooting sports, it's also likely they'll continue to vote for what they think is "sensible gun control".

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Witness Arizona filling with California expats.

We (the wife and I) *LOVED* WFH. We did soooo much bicycling this summer because of it.

bassjam said:

I suspect anyone moving from a more urban to a rural area will take their politics with them. So while it's possible they could get more involved in shooting sports, it's also likely they'll continue to vote for what they think is "sensible gun control".

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Absolutely agree with this. What they are fleeing from they are causing it to happen again where they end up.

jags said:

Absolutely agree with this. What they are fleeing from they are causing it to happen again where they end up.

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Yep Oregon,Colorado and Washington as well. They ruined Cali made all their money etc then move and ruin the next state they reside in.

wiscoaster said:

Sorry, I disagree. I think the OP's got an interesting point and I think there may be something to it. When working at home your time is your own to schedule, and if you can get the work done in less time you have more free time. More free time leads to a need to find something to do with it. A more rural environment leads to more interest in doing stuff out of doors. The OP's premise makes sense to me. I don't know if it'll play out. And if the shortages continue the barriers to participate may be too high. We'll see, I guess.

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However, the majority of those who have the ability to work from home are not gun folks; they tend to "vote blue, no matter who" and we have seen what happens when they leave their crappy cities and move to rural areas - they try to turn it blue; I have seen it happen in NV, UT, AZ, ID, CO, MT, FL, GA, NC among other places.

Every year we have a flood of 'Winter Texans', folks that come from Canada and other places well north of the Mason-Dixon line and stay from October until March.
This last year their home countries and states didn't want them back.

I don't know about them telecommuting, but the guns and ammo are all gone in the stores and I quit going to my local firing range because of all of the ADs and NDs.
The buildings were starting to look like lace... .

I've been on and off teleworking twice now, biggest benefit to me was an 80 minute daily savings in commuting time. It does look like we're heading back into a higher percentage working from home due to increased cases. I do miss getting off at 1600 and being on my range by 1610, which would be great due to earlier sunset now.

Overall, no change in my shooting hobbies, although SAT was the last 3Gun match for the year. Luckily I've got 80 acres worth of "deferred projects", now's the time to cut firewood, and hunting season is cranking up, so I'm at no loss for things to do.