Supporters of former U.S. president Donald Trump attend a watch party for the U.S. presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 10.GIORGIO VIERA/AFP/Getty Images
At the Guns and Range Training Center in West Palm Beach, the walls are lined with assault-style semi-automatic rifles. Handguns in a display case have former president Donald Trump’s likeness on their handles, one of them with the phrase “never surrender.”
About five kilometres southeast of the Florida gun range, Mr. Trump was rushed off the course at one of his golf clubs on Sunday, after what appeared to have been a second attempt to assassinate him in two months. The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, was spotted by the Secret Service and fled the scene before he could fire any shots, according to authorities. But he left behind a loaded high-powered SKS-style rifle.
Palm Beach County, home to Mr. Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, is a centre of gun culture in the United States. Local firearms enthusiasts appeared unmoved by the incident.
Data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) show that Florida has the second most federal firearms licensees, after Texas, at 4,519. These include firearms dealers, manufacturers and importers, among others. Within Florida, Palm Beach has the most licensees of any county, with 266.
Nicholas Yalley, a manager at Guns and Range, said the store had seen a slight uptick in business in recent weeks. “Whenever there’s some sort of major violent event, people start to feel unsafe again, and then they start looking for firearms that they can use to protect themselves,” he said. Researchers have found that gun sales increase after mass shootings.
Tim Carey, a law and policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, said that “more Americans are buying guns for the first time, at least partly because of concerns about racial and political violence” in recent years.
“These new gun purchasers are also more likely to be supportive of and willing to engage in political violence than prior gun owners and non-gun owners,” Mr. Carey said in an e-mail.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, which describes itself as the U.S.’s largest gun violence prevention organization, Florida is in the middle of the pack when it comes to gun control. Everytown says the state is “missing key laws,” such as requirements for background checks and concealed-carry permits.
With 14 firearm deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, Florida sits slightly below the national average in gun mortality, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Between 2016 and 2020, Canada had 2.1 firearm deaths per 100,000 people.)
In July, Mr. Trump’s ear was injured at a Pennsylvania rally, and one attendee was killed, when a gunman fired an AR-15-style rifle in the former president’s direction from a nearby rooftop before being killed himself. The assailant had purchased 50 rounds of ammo from a local gun shop on the day of the attack. The gun belonged to his father.
In Florida, Mr. Routh’s weapon had its serial number removed, and authorities have not yet commented on how he obtained it. He now faces two federal weapons charges. Prosecutors could opt to lay more serious charges later, and the state of Florida is conducting its own investigation.
A search on Google Maps shows about a dozen shooting ranges and firearms stores near the Trump International Golf Club, where Mr. Routh allegedly camped for nearly 12 hours before Mr. Trump arrived.
Some, such as Gator Guns and Archery Center, in West Palm Beach, have walls decorated with mounted animal heads and lined with hunting rifles. Others, like Palm Beach Armament in Lake Park, focus on military-style equipment.
Most of the shopkeepers and clients at these stores wanted nothing to do with the press. “If I speak to the media, the ATF will come shut me down,” said Sean Rebecchini, the owner of Palm Beach Armament.
“I could give my opinion, and they might not like it” and revoke his licence, he said, speaking of the federal regulator. (The ATF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
At the Palm Beach Shooting Center, a gun range in Lake Worth Beach, customer Kai Stevens said it is pointless to try to prevent assassination attempts through tougher gun policies. “He didn’t have it legally, so he’s breaking the rules,” Mr. Stevens, who was wearing a MAGA hat and heading for target practice with two friends, said of Mr. Routh. “All the rules that they make impact the legal gun owners.”
Ruben Nieves, the shooting centre’s manager, expressed a similar point of view. “There’s always a black market for something,” he said.
But Mr. Carey, of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions, said it’s tricky to distinguish between legal and illegal firearms because of variations between state laws and theft, for example. Data from the ATF shows that more than half of reported crime guns collected by law enforcement in 2021 were legally purchased within three years of the crime.
When Mr. Nieves was asked if he checks whether the guns his customers bring to his gun range were obtained legally, he shook his head no.