Residents in Los Angeles are flocking to buy guns amid a city-wide shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Footage has emerged of a long queue forming around the outside of a weapons store, with people saying they are worried for their safety if food runs out.
The city has ordered bars, restaurants, theatres and movie houses to shut down in a bid to encourage social distancing and slow the spread of Covid-19.
Following the announcement, a US correspondent for Australia's Nine News Network Amelia Adams tweeted footage of a queue trailing 10 metres from a gun shop's front door.
"Queues to buy guns in LA," she wrote.
"Buyers tell me they’re scared of what will happen if people run out of food and supplies, and they need to protect their families. We’re live on @TheTodayShow as #coronavirus panic hits LA."
She later told the network that dozens of people had lined up outside the store, with some who had been there for hours and some who had never owned a gun before.
American states have started imposing stringent measures as coronavirus cases in the nation surpassed 3,000.
The country recorded 69 deaths from coronavirus and cases leapt up by over a hundred to 3,782.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention issued new recommendations that mass gatherings of 50 or more people be cancelled or postponed for the next eight weeks.
Non-Americans are now banned from travelling from 26 European countries. The ban, which originally did not include the UK and Ireland will extend to include both as of Tuesday.
Since the outbreak, people around the world have been seen stockpiling toilet paper, hand sanitiser and food despite calls from supermarket chains and governments it is not necessary.
