Area gun shops say that gun sales have significantly increased since the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Citizens are afraid that stricter gun laws will be put into affect because of the shooting and bans will be placed on certain firearms.
Full Metal Jacket Owner Russell Allen said that his store is up over 100 percent in sales and they have doubled their typical gun sales since the Newtown shooting.
Allen said that almost every five minutes his store receives a call about AR-15s. The AR-15 is a common assault weapon, and the federal government has discussed the possibility of banning such weapons and enforcing stricter gun laws. Since the recent attack, the demand for AR-15s have been high across the nation, according to Allen. FMJ does not expect to get anymore in, due to the country’s high demand for them.
Allen does not think that stricter gun laws will have an affect on decreasing gun violence.
“Most crimes are done with illegally obtained guns.” said Allen. “And if the government takes away guns, people will have no way to defend themselves, and will start using other weapons.”
Southern Shooters on New Hutchinson Mill Road has sold about 100 guns since Newtown’s massacre, up drastically from the normal eight to ten guns sold per week. Southern Shooters had sold the last of their five AR-15s between the Dec. 14 attack and last Tuesday.
Owner and Manager of Pawn Express Jake Long said that since the Newtown shooting, they have sold 21 guns as of Thursday afternoon; on a typical day, the shop would sell about one or two guns per day.
“The only thing they could change that would make a difference is that people who are mentally ill should be in the system.” said Long. “There is gap between physicians and the background checking system.”
Long described a time when a friend diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia attempted to buy a gun from him. He said years ago, his friend came to him to purchase a gun, but he would not sell him the gun because he knew of his friend’s illness. Later, his friend ended up cutting someone and is now in prison.
“There needs to be a way that we can actually verify their health background as well when we do background checks.” said Long.
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