Chloe Duffield is a fourth-year Public Affairs departmental honors major with a minor in Professional Writing. Her thesis analyzes the multi-thousand spike of firearm purchases the United States experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research aims to pinpoint the societal conditions that influence the volatile and elusive nature of the firearm as a symbol in American culture and hopes to determine what specifically sparked this rise in sales. By examining pre-existing literature and attitudes regarding gun culture in the United States, different periods of America and their corresponding societal conditions and firearm ownership rates prior to COVID-19 and comparing them to the constraints and ownership rates the U.S. experienced from 2020-2022, she hopes to provide a deeper understanding of the forces in our country that shape the attitude and opinion of firearm ownership. She also hopes that her research will illuminate how the general perspective of the firearm is reflective of America’s social and political climate. Chloe is a writer for the Bruin Political Review in the World Politics section and works in data analytics at UCLA’s Bruin Media Group. She is also a research intern for UCLA’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation Research Group. Chloe intends to study law following graduation in the spring.