Hungary’s demand for guns increases as people grow scared of social upheaval

Gun controls are tight in Eastern Europe as across the rest of the continent, but demand for small arms amid growing anxiety over coronavirus has risen elsewhere in the region. The Czech arms manufacturers association said shop owners had reported rising demand and a double-digit rise in sales reports CNA. Hungarians have sought in increasing number to arm themselves for protection in recent weeks, fearing a possible unravelling of law and order if severe shortages set in as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.

About 300,000 people hold licenses for guns in each of the Czech Republic and Hungary, both with about 10 million inhabitants. Licenses are not mandatory for some light arms.”We are selling five times as much as in a normal March,” said Gabor Vass, who runs three gun shops in the Hungarian capital.

“We could sell 15 times more if we had any more rubber bullet weapons, but we ran out.”

Vass, the gun shop owner, said even small weapons not requiring a license were very dangerous in the wrong hands, given that even non-combat gas pistols can be lethal at close range, and the interest does not stop there. The shop, little bigger than a phone booth and tucked inside a suburban shopping centre on the edge of Budapest, was hardly designed for an onrush of customers. But last week brought a heavy stream, people from all walks of life.