FILE – In this Oct. 20, 2017 file photo, sales clerk Tom Wallitner holds up a Mossberg 715T .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle during an auction at Johnny’s Auction House in Rochester, Wash. The Spokane City Council is considering a proposal to prohibit the police department from selling forfeited firearms, following an Associated Press investigation that found that more than a dozen guns sold by law enforcement agencies in Washington state ended up in new police investigations. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Never miss an opportunity to stroke one’s partisan wants, right?

Enter Nicholas Kristof, who is a long time op-ed writer for The New York Times. If you are trying to put a face with the name, he’s the same guy who went on a propaganda hop in North Korea some years ago and came back praising their “fun” and pizza to try to own President Trump.

Kristof is fretting that increased gun sales in the U.S. will lead to more murders, thereby being a major repercussion of the Wuhan virus.

One way in which the coronavirus will lead to more deaths: It is leading to a rush to buy guns, which will lead to more murders, suicides and accidents: https://t.co/cxPcvjk6X0

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 16, 2020

This comes after numerous reports that gun buying is up right now as people seek to protect themselves from any worst case scenario.

Gun sales are surging in many U.S. states, especially in those hit hardest by the coronavirus. https://t.co/2lk6wXVTf0

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 16, 2020

You know who’s not buying guns right now? Criminals looking to go murder people. Kristof’s claim is nonsensical. Those buying right now are doing so to ensure they have the ability to defend themselves in the face of panic, specifically the possibility of looting. There’s a reason the increased sales are happening mostly in the urban areas hardest hit by the virus. These are people who rightly fear a failure by their local government to protect them and are getting prepared.

Of course, even on the numbers, Kristof is wrong.

Gun sales have soared over the past 15 years while violent crime has fallen to historic lows. So, no. https://t.co/UgmwzhHtgK

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) March 16, 2020

This isn’t the first spike in gun sales over the last decade. We’ve seen several rushes and none have led to a spike in murders. In the cities with the highest murder rates, it’s illegally obtained guns that do the vast majority of the killing, not grandpa going down to his local gun store to buy a new shotgun.

But you can expect attempts at shoving through false narratives to continue over the next few months. Some on the left see the weakened state of the country as a unique chance and they are going to take it.