WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. public has been on a sustained gun-buying spree in the months leading up to a bitterly contested election, reported BuzzFeed News on Tuesday.

The U.S. shattered all records for gun sales in 2020, "spiking in the early months of the pandemic and during the summer's racial justice protests, and continuing at historically high levels right up to an election mired by fears of growing unrest," said the report.

The news website estimated U.S. gun sales from the FBI's background check data using a method developed by Jurgen Brauer of the consultancy Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting.

Total 2020 gun sales, currently standing around 18.6 million, could reach 22 million by the end of the year -- a huge increase on Brauer's estimate of 13.9 million for 2019, said the report.

According to the report, the 2020 gun sales surge "seems to be a response to widespread anxiety about civil unrest as the nation has struggled with a pandemic, protests against police violence, and growing concerns about the potential for serious political violence around the election."

Many of the people rushing to buy guns in 2020 are first-time buyers, said the report, citing new research from Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, professional researcher in the Violence Prevention Research Program at the UC Davis School of Medicine, and her colleagues.

The researchers also found that more people are reporting keeping at least one gun loaded and not locked away in a gun cabinet.