Rob Kaneiss, Trident Lakes’s chief security officer and a former Navy seal, told me that violence “seems to be the unfortunate trend in the U.S.” He believes the community’s location will prove to be ideal under the circumstances. “Typically our sales are going to conservatives, but now liberals are purchasing,” says Lynch, the Rising S CEO. The presidential election has brought new faces into the fold, namely liberals (who also contributed to a record number of background checks-an indicator of gun purchases-on Black Friday). Others have newer fears: climate change, pandemics, terrorism, far-left and far-right extremism.

Some customers appear to be motivated by old anxieties, recently revived-the threat of nuclear war, or a national-debt default that leads to unrest. Jeff Schlegelmilch, the deputy director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told me that the luxury-bunker trend is “not just a couple of fringe groups there is real money behind it-hundreds of millions of dollars.” But why are wealthy people buying?

Cold war nuclear fallout shelters