'Too soon?': California hosts a gun show, just days after mass shooting nearby claimed 11 lives
Business as usual
The trade fair called the Crossroads of the West Gun Show saw women pushing baby strollers, fathers carrying children on their shoulders, and young kids shopping with parents at the "wholesale ammunition" booths.
Kids under 12 'shop guns' free!
Gun violence in the country has become a major threat to children who frequently end up as innocent victims of these senseless attacks. Yet, at the gun fair children were not only present but were given a 'free entry' if under the age of 12.
A state in mourning
The "fair" happened even as the state is in mourning. Just days earlier, on January 21, a mass shooting at a dance hall in Monterey Park, a 30-minute drive away, left 11 dead and nine others injured.
Just two days later, another shooting, this one in San Francisco, claimed seven more lives
Did the mass shooting affect gun sales?
Yes, the tragedies did affect gun sales, but not in the way you would expect.
"Nobody talks about these incidents, but there is a spike in purchases this week," said Crystal Markanson, a vendor at the show, as quoted by AFP.
"Every time that the media talks about a mass shooting, people buy guns because they're afraid that they'll get taken away."
More guns than people
In the US, as per estimates quoted by Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, there are about 400 million guns. This is more than the population of the country, which stands at 330 million.
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