With the ease with which the burner can be turned into a bomb, it's portability (like a large Molotov), and the $15 price tag, I would be really surprised if it were genuinely an outlier (in the sense of being a chance correlation with current events).
I hadn't thought of that. When I think of people buying little propane stoves, I always think of them doing it for survival. What I thought was that some people are getting their last minute emergency supplies just in case things get worse.