HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — One popular YouTuber is on a road trip encouraging people across the U.S. to get hands on with different kinds of guns.
Ivan Loomis, aka Kit Badger, made a stop in Huntsville on Monday with his family and some friends. Dozens of people came out to Hobbs Island Shooting Range to participate in the Kit Badger Coast to Coast road trip.
Noah Alkinburgh is travelling with Coast to Coast. He said, "Especially with 2020 being the dumpster fire that it is, he was going to put it on hold and then he was like you know what, let's live our lives. Let's not let this control us completely, so he bought a bus and we've been driving a bus across the country."
Right now, more people are buying guns across the U.S. and in Alabama.
Demand for guns typically goes up during elections, but this year, thousands of people began buying guns at the beginning of the pandemic and continued to do so throughout the summer.
Long Walk Ordnance Gun Shop Owner, Tim Horning, said, "I think it's important, and more people are coming to realize that especially not just the pandemic, but the civil and social unrest that we've got going on, that the police officers they rely on to protect them may not always be readily available."
Along with gun sales, the Long Walk Ordnance gun shop says they've seen an uptick in people seeking training.
"We have other companies that come out and offer training continuously out here," said Horning. "North Alabama Firearms Training is one of those agencies and they've seen an increase in some of their basic training classes for both pistol and rifle."
It started in Oregon on September 2nd. They will wrap up the Coast to Coast road trip on Friday in Lakeland, Florida.
You can keep up with the road trip on the Kit Badger YouTube channel.
WATCH: 27th Annual Trail of Tears