Election spurs sales of guns, ammo
By MARK I. JOHNSON
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- The owners of Buck's Gun Rack say they didn't vote for Barack Obama, but the president-elect sure has been good for business.
Assault-style rifles, personal protection handguns, shotguns and ammunition -- business was up by as much as 400 percent after the election, exceeding records that followed Sept. 11 and preceded the Y2K scare of 2000.
"Sales have gone through the roof," Forrest Buckwald said, attributing the boost to a belief that Obama would support gun control measures.
"People were talking about Obama before the election," said Buckwald's brother and co-owner, Scott. "The Saturday after the election we could not help people fast enough. It was the biggest day we ever had" since the store opened in 1954.
"People have expressed a desire to get (their guns) while the getting is good," Forrest Buckwald added.
During the campaign, Obama called for a permanent reinstatement of the assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004. It prohibits the sale of such semiautomatic rifles as AK-47s and AR-15s, military-style weapons that critics say are designed solely to kill people.
But while the National Rifle Association has characterized Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment, a spokesman for the Obama transition team in Chicago said those beliefs are unfounded.
"Barack Obama recognizes that firearm ownership is a rich tradition in American life," spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a telephone interview this week. "Obama believes the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms. He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, and transport, and use guns, and he will support the right of communities to enact common-sense gun safety laws."
Gun advocates, though, point to his record as an Illinois state legislator when Obama supported a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms.
"Obama's record is absolutely abysmal when it comes to the Second Amendment," said Ted Novin, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade organization for gun dealers and manufacturers.
Plenty of others seem to agree.
Representatives of Love's Gun and Pawn in DeLand and Florida Gun Exchange in Port Orange said their sales have tripled since the election.
"It has been unprecedented," said John Kieser, owner of the Gun Exchange.
Heather Lavornia of Love's said rumors of a tax on guns and ammunition from a Democratic-controlled Congress also have fueled customers' fears.
"They are buying and stocking up," she said.
At Buck's, Mike Murphy of Ormond Beach said he wanted to purchase a tactical version of a pump action shotgun before it could get caught up in restrictions.
"They should enforce the laws they have now," the 61-year-old said. "They make sense, but we are not enforcing them."
Justin Perkins, 28, of Kissimmee agreed, but he doesn't expect any changes anytime soon.
"I think the restrictions will happen sometime in the next two or three years," he said while looking at a hunting rifle during his lunch break.
Harry Miller admitted Obama was in the back of his mind as he looked over used pistols with his wife, Joan, but they had their own reasons for shopping that day.
"We want one for protection because we travel a lot in our motor home," said Harry Miller of Edgewater. "I already have a semi-automatic (pistol)."
"But I can't pull the slide back," his 71-year-old wife said.
mark.johnson@news-jrnl.com
Weapons previously banned
The named assault-style firearms banned under a 1994 law that expired in September 2004:
· AK-47 and all models of the Norinco, Mitchell and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs, designed in the former Soviet Union.
· Uzi and Galil, both made by Action Arms Israeli Military Industries.
· TEC-9, TEC-22 and TEC-DC9, manufactured by Intratec.
· SWD M-10, M-11, M-11-9 and M-12. Based on the design of the MAC-10, their full-automatic cousin.
· Street Sweeper and Striker 12 and other revolving cylinder semiautomatic shotguns.
· Beretta AR-70 and SC-70, used by armed forces in a number of countries.
· Colt AR-15, the civilian version of the M-16 rifle that is the U.S. military's standard-issue rifle.
· Several weapons manufactured by Fabrique Nationale.
· Steyr AUG, a rifle made in Germany.
This a direct copy ( QUOTE ) from our local paper and here is the link,
http://www.news-journalonline.com/index.htm
By MARK I. JOHNSON
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- The owners of Buck's Gun Rack say they didn't vote for Barack Obama, but the president-elect sure has been good for business.
Assault-style rifles, personal protection handguns, shotguns and ammunition -- business was up by as much as 400 percent after the election, exceeding records that followed Sept. 11 and preceded the Y2K scare of 2000.
"Sales have gone through the roof," Forrest Buckwald said, attributing the boost to a belief that Obama would support gun control measures.
"People were talking about Obama before the election," said Buckwald's brother and co-owner, Scott. "The Saturday after the election we could not help people fast enough. It was the biggest day we ever had" since the store opened in 1954.
"People have expressed a desire to get (their guns) while the getting is good," Forrest Buckwald added.
During the campaign, Obama called for a permanent reinstatement of the assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004. It prohibits the sale of such semiautomatic rifles as AK-47s and AR-15s, military-style weapons that critics say are designed solely to kill people.
But while the National Rifle Association has characterized Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment, a spokesman for the Obama transition team in Chicago said those beliefs are unfounded.
"Barack Obama recognizes that firearm ownership is a rich tradition in American life," spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a telephone interview this week. "Obama believes the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms. He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, and transport, and use guns, and he will support the right of communities to enact common-sense gun safety laws."
Gun advocates, though, point to his record as an Illinois state legislator when Obama supported a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms.
"Obama's record is absolutely abysmal when it comes to the Second Amendment," said Ted Novin, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade organization for gun dealers and manufacturers.
Plenty of others seem to agree.
Representatives of Love's Gun and Pawn in DeLand and Florida Gun Exchange in Port Orange said their sales have tripled since the election.
"It has been unprecedented," said John Kieser, owner of the Gun Exchange.
Heather Lavornia of Love's said rumors of a tax on guns and ammunition from a Democratic-controlled Congress also have fueled customers' fears.
"They are buying and stocking up," she said.
At Buck's, Mike Murphy of Ormond Beach said he wanted to purchase a tactical version of a pump action shotgun before it could get caught up in restrictions.
"They should enforce the laws they have now," the 61-year-old said. "They make sense, but we are not enforcing them."
Justin Perkins, 28, of Kissimmee agreed, but he doesn't expect any changes anytime soon.
"I think the restrictions will happen sometime in the next two or three years," he said while looking at a hunting rifle during his lunch break.
Harry Miller admitted Obama was in the back of his mind as he looked over used pistols with his wife, Joan, but they had their own reasons for shopping that day.
"We want one for protection because we travel a lot in our motor home," said Harry Miller of Edgewater. "I already have a semi-automatic (pistol)."
"But I can't pull the slide back," his 71-year-old wife said.
mark.johnson@news-jrnl.com
Weapons previously banned
The named assault-style firearms banned under a 1994 law that expired in September 2004:
· AK-47 and all models of the Norinco, Mitchell and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs, designed in the former Soviet Union.
· Uzi and Galil, both made by Action Arms Israeli Military Industries.
· TEC-9, TEC-22 and TEC-DC9, manufactured by Intratec.
· SWD M-10, M-11, M-11-9 and M-12. Based on the design of the MAC-10, their full-automatic cousin.
· Street Sweeper and Striker 12 and other revolving cylinder semiautomatic shotguns.
· Beretta AR-70 and SC-70, used by armed forces in a number of countries.
· Colt AR-15, the civilian version of the M-16 rifle that is the U.S. military's standard-issue rifle.
· Several weapons manufactured by Fabrique Nationale.
· Steyr AUG, a rifle made in Germany.
This a direct copy ( QUOTE ) from our local paper and here is the link,
http://www.news-journalonline.com/index.htm