In my personal opinion, seems like a number of factors are at work. First, the second amendment has become more republican-coded, so republicans are probably more likely to purchase more guns than they would have. Second, the media’s sensationalism has constantly increased, so a lot of people consider a gun to be a prudent option - either viewing many cities to be hellholes, and the only way they would travel there is with a CCW, or seeing crazy people fighting over COVID supplies and thinking “maybe they’re coming for my toilet paper, better get a gun.” Third, a lot of firearm-curious people see the rise of the republicans arming up and feel like they have no choice but to also get a gun.

One concerning element in all of this is that even though there has been an increase in guns, it doesn’t seem like there has been a corresponding increase in gun ranges, so people are likely not achieving competence with their guns.