Gun stores doing a booming business

Rural gun stores seem to have two things in common these days: Business is up, and restocking is a challenge.

Some owners said the sales rush began right after the Nov. 4 election of President Barack Obama.

“President Obama may not be helping all businesses, but he sure is helping us,” said Benton Shooter’s Supply owner Jimmy McAbee, whose recent sales nearly have doubled. “We are buying everything we can find, and we went from four days a week to six days.”

Owners said some buyers fear the Obama administration wants to ban ownership or put a high tax on ammunition, although gun control advocates point to a Supreme Court decision last year affirming a right to gun ownership.

Others are worried about the economy and want to protect themselves from thieves.

Fugate’s Firearms, in Calhoun, Tenn., has a shooting range and teaches the safety course required for people seeking permits to carry concealed weapons.

“The gun classes are all up from last year,” co-owner Carmen Fugate said.

Suppliers are having trouble filling orders for nearly all types of firearms, several owners said, and getting adequate supplies of ammunition is even more difficult. And with prices on gun parts doubling, even gunsmiths are feeling the supply pinch.

Cleveland gunsmith Bob Randolph doesn’t sell weapons, but he said the shops he contracts with for repair work reported record sales after the election.

Mr. McAbee said a lot of buyers are looking at the semiautomatic long guns that many call assault rifles.

While opponents say they are dangerous because of their high-capacity magazines, Mr. McAbee said many people use them for varmints or for hunting. His daughter killed two deer this year with hers, he said.

President Obama has said he wants to renew a federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

Mike Woodard, a gun salesman at All American Gun in Athens, said some people believe that a loose definition of the world “assault” could mean a ban on all semiautomatic weapons, including pistols with magazines.

“What we consider an assault rifle is a selective firearm,” Mr. Woodard said. That’s a weapon that can be switched from semiautomatic to automatic.

He said many people who are buying weapons are fearful the government ultimately will ban many of the rifles and stop all ownership.

But Doug Pennington with Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld citizens’ right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.

“Not only do we not want to do it (take away all guns), we couldn’t do it,” he said.

He said the Brady Campaign seeks controls on gun ownership such as registration and closing loopholes allowing guns to be sold at gun shows without background checks on buyers.

He also questions the need for 30- to 60-round quick-change magazines for civilian firearms, and said that semiautomatics such as the AK-47-style rifles that can fire 30 rounds in about eight seconds should be considered assault weapons.

He said both sides need to sit down and talk, if the gun lobby is interested.

“But it takes two to tango,” Mr. Pennington said.