And the other side of the coin is that "gun nuts" are all flocking to buy assault rifles and the like for fear that they may become illegal soon.
Gun sales up, driven by politics, Connecticut massacre
Fear of tighter restrictions trigger a 'buying frenzy.'
5:39 AM, Dec 19, 2012
Gun sales locally have been climbing steadily aided by politics and gun control fears in the long run and more recently by last week’s school shooting in Connecticut.
Additionally, several gun shop owners in Lee County said the steady flow of customers and resulting increase in sales has made getting some kinds of guns difficult to get.
Those same shop owners cited the election and re-election of President Barack Obama for the long-term increase in sales.
“It started about eight months before the election,” said Brian M. Waldron, owner of Guns R Us on Broadway in Fort Myers. “The thing was that people said that Obama would hurt gun sales.”
Jon Dezendorf, manager at Fowler Firearms on Fowler Street in Fort Myers, added that there was a small jump around the election and a little uptick prompted by Christmas shoppers.
“There is an upsurge now because of Connecticut and a concern with gun control laws. It’s a buying frenzy,” Dezendorf said.
Alecs Dean of International Firearm Safety Inc., of Fort Myers, agreed.
“There is a legitimate fear that there will be restrictions,” Dean said. His company offers civilian firearm and personal protection training.
Dean added that interest in his training courses has taken off since Friday. “I’ve had more than 25 calls since Friday for information on classes,” he said. “Usually I get two to three calls a day.”
There is also evidence that firearms sales are moving at a brisk pace nationally as well.
Some gun dealers in Oregon, Virginia and Texas said that stocks of handguns and shotguns were selling quickly.
“Our sales are astronomical,” said Karl Durkheimer, owner of Northwest Armory in Portland, Ore. “We have customers coming in who are very worried for their personal safety. There is no question that sales are related” to Friday’s shooting, which left 20 children and six educators dead, and last week’s deadly shooting at a Portland-area shopping mall.
Waldron, whose small shop sits in the shadow of the Fort Myers Police Department, said that more people became interested in guns after President Barack Obama was re-elected in November.
And now, Waldron said, after the Newtown, Conn., massacre, those who had been indecisive are making their moves. “The phone has been ringing off the hook,” he said.
“There’s a five-month backlog on AR-15s and AK models,” he said. The AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle, was the gun used in the Connecticut shooting.
Waldron said even small revolvers have been difficult to get.
“It’s now starting to affect basic handguns,” he said. “I’m a smaller shop and bigger shops may have more availability.”
At Fowler Firearms, Dezendorf said that there are some AR-15 and AK models that are difficult to get.
Customers at the Fowler shop Tuesday gave a variety of reasons for their purchases.
Logan Nelson of Fort Myers was buying an AR-15 as a gift for his girlfriend.
“This is so we can hunt coyotes on our land lease in Georgia,” he said. “I wasn’t going to buy one until the talk about an assault rifle ban started. This will be a gun for us to strap on the four-wheeler.”
Dr. Bill Stier of Englewood was in the store to buy two Smith & Wesson AR-15s.
“Because I’m afraid there will be an overreaction to the terrible tragedy in Connecticut,” he said.
Lauren Williams, 24, who was at Fowler to look for accessories for the Glock 40 she got for her recent birthday, said she fully backs gun rights.
“It is never bad to be prepared,” she said. However, she cautioned, “If you’re irresponsible with weapons you shouldn’t have a gun.”
Meanwhile, the Dick’s Sporting Goods chain said Tuesday that it is suspending sales of some rifles nationwide because of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and Wal-Mart was reportedly suspending online sales of a rifle similar to the one the Connecticut shooter used.
Dick’s also said it’s removing all guns from display at its store closest to where the shootings took place.
Wall Street private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management said it will sell its stake in firearms maker Freedom Group, which makes one of the guns used in Friday’s mass shooting.
