Around two million guns were bought in the U.S. last month, the New York Times reports.

“The surge in gun sales as coronavirus spreads across the country is second highest on record, after January 2013, the month when President Obama began his second term in office and the Sandy Hook School shooting raised calls for increased gun legislation.”

“The FBI processed a record 3.7 million gun background checks in March — more than any month previously reported, according to the agency’s latest data,” Axios reports.

“The spike’s timing suggests it may be driven at least in part by the coronavirus.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) declared in a statement that gun stores should be classified as essential businesses, allowing them to remain open amid shutdowns imposed on local businesses to stem the spread of coronavirus. 

“The National Rifle Association is cutting salaries by 20% across the board and laying off an unspecified number of employees amid a plunge in fundraising during the coronavirus crisis,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) push to ban the sale of assault weapons has failed after members of his own party balked at the proposal, the AP reports.

“Four moderate Democrats joined Republicans in Monday’s committee vote, rejecting legislation that would have prohibited the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms, including popular AR-15 style rifles, and banned the possession of magazines that hold more than 12 rounds.”

Associated Press: “Gun-rights activists and other groups began to descend on Virginia’s capital city Monday to protest Democrats’ plans to pass gun-control legislation.”

“Gov. Ralph Northam declared a temporary state of emergency days ahead of the rally, banning all weapons including guns from the event on Capitol Square. The expected arrival of thousands of gun-rights activists — along with members of militia groups and white supremacists — raised fears the state could again see the type of violence that exploded in Charlottesville in 2017.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a live blog on the event.

NBC News: “The court has steadfastly declined to take up any gun rights cases since ruling in 2008’s Washington, D.C. v. Heller that the Second Amendment provides a right to keep a handgun at home for self-defense, and later clarifying in 2010’s McDonald v. Chicago that the right applies nationwide.”

“Now the court’s willingness to take the New York case — even though the law at issue was recently repealed — has gun rights supporters feeling optimistic that it could lead to a ruling about the right to bear arms outside the home. Gun control advocates, in contrast, fear the court’s new conservative majority may produce a decision that the National Rifle Association could use to fight against many of the 300 local gun restrictions enacted since the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012.”

“President Trump has so far failed to follow through on his vow to secure tougher gun laws in the wake of this summer’s mass shootings that killed dozens. The latest rationale from Republicans: The House’s impeachment inquiry makes it impossible,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Attorney General William Barr: “Unfortunately, our discussions on the legislative aspects of this have been sidetracked because of the impeachment process on the Hill, and so we are going forward with all the operational steps that we can take that do not require legislative action. Right now it does not appear that things in Washington are amenable to those kinds of negotiations and compromises.” 

“The Supreme Court said Tuesday a survivor and relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting can pursue their lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used to kill 26 people,” the AP reports.

“The justices rejected an appeal from Remington Arms that argued it should be shielded by a 2005 federal law preventing most lawsuits against firearms manufacturers when their products are used in crimes.”

Beto O’Rourke dismissed criticisms of his sweeping gun control proposal, telling CBS News that he expects gun owners will go along with his plan to institute a “mandatory buyback” of high-powered rifles.

Said O’Rourke: “If we’re able to pass mandatory buybacks and I’m able to sign that into law, then I fully expect our fellow Americans to turn in their AR-15s and their AK-47s.”

A South Carolina auto dealership posted their “latest greatest” promotion on Facebook, saying they will be giving away a Bible, an American Flag and a Smith & Wesson AR-15 with every vehicle purchased, WBTV reports.

Wall Street Journal: “The confirmation of President Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is in jeopardy as some Republican senators expressed concern that he would restrict the rights of gun owners.”

“Chuck Canterbury, the head of the national Fraternal Order of Police, doesn’t have enough Republican support to advance beyond the Senate Judiciary Committee, the people said, and a Thursday vote on his nomination was indefinitely postponed.”

“Competing factions inside the White House have stymied efforts to unite behind gun legislation, further delaying President Trump from getting behind any plan,” Politico reports.

“On one side is Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, and Attorney General William Barr. Both are urging the president to back new firearms restrictions — including expanded background checks for gun sales — insisting he can be the leader who succeeds on an intractable issue that has bedeviled his predecessors and that he can win back moderate suburban voters in the process, according to people involved in the discussions.”

“On the other side, a group that includes Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son and an avid hunter, and a top aide to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, is telling Trump he risks losing support from his conservative base if he pushes too aggressively on new gun control legislation, they say.”