Americans reach for guns after a summer of protest and violence
Some countries have endured shortages of toilet paper and other basic household goods.
America, too, has suffered key shortages... of ammunition.
That sums up how this country has responded to images that have flickered across American TV screens night after night through this long, hot summer.
The combination of a pandemic, racial turmoil and a President stoking fear, has ignited a national debate about law and order. The question has become how ordinary citizens should respond.
Amid the wreckage of Kenosha - the Wisconsin city hit by race riots - we met Dan Cox, a fierce defender of the 2nd Amendment.
He believes Americans now have a duty to buy a gun and defend themselves.
Many l have done exactly that. The figures are startling.
In July 2020, the FBI conducted more than 3.6 million firearm background checks. Nearly two million handguns flew off the shelves in August - and that doesn’t include long guns, like the ever-popular AR15.
Many of the new purchasers are suburban women - exactly the demographic that Donald Trump has been targeting with his law and order message.
He may not get their vote. But the President has clearly been highly successful in scaring the living daylights out of them.
We met Tina Coha buying her first gun in northern Illinois. Her motivation? Every time she turns on the TV she sees America in flames.
She watches race riots and looting. “I want to protect my children,” she told me.
Tina says her new gun is her insurance policy.
Over the weekend we saw militias - like the Angry Vikings and the black group the NFAC - empowered and taking over the streets of Louisville in Kentucky.
Combine those scenes with individuals buying weapons at this rate and you glimpse what an ominous future could lie ahead.
There is another feature we have seen. Self-styled vigilantes, deploying into riot-hit areas.
One of them was Kyle Rittenhouse - a 17-year-old - who opened fire on protesters, killing two.
While he has been charged with murder, some of those we met see Rittenhouse as a hero.
America's summer of protests has created an atmosphere of deep insecurity. A few citizens have armed up and become self-appointed law enforcement officers.
Millions more have responded by buying a gun and heading to the range.