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CA- Gun dealers aim to meet demand
FrancF
Member Posts: 35,279 ✭✭✭
Fresno gun dealers are spending a lot of time on the phone these days, trying to find pistols, shotguns and military-style semiautomatic rifles to sell to anxious gun owners.
By early next year, Democrats will be in control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and some believe that means new gun restrictions, or even bans, are on the way. It's the talk in gun stores, at shooting ranges and on firearm-related Web sites.
President-elect Barack Obama tried to reassure voters throughout his campaign that he respects the right to own guns.
His campaign Web site states that he supports "common sense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of guns owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them."
But many aren't convinced.
William Mayfield, a longtime gun dealer who operates a store near First Street and Ashlan Avenue in Fresno, said he can't get any models of the popular Austrian Glock handgun or the American-made Ruger.
"You almost ask the guy what he'll sell you," Mayfield said of distributors.
The situation is the same at Fresno Firearms, near Blackstone and Herndon avenues, said owner Marylyn Panek.
There are "three basic suppliers and you have to wait on the line for a half-hour to talk to them."
The rush started the day Obama was elected president and has intensified, she said.
Barry Bauer of Herb Bauer Sporting Goods at Blackstone and Sierra avenues said, "The distributors are basically sold out. It kind of caught all of us with our pants down."
On a recent afternoon, Bauer's store was crowded with shoppers looking at guns and ammunition. A number of them said they were worried about future gun-control measures, but none of them said that was the reason for their trip to the store.
Larry Vilott of Mariposa said the record of liberal politicians shows gun-control measures will come soon. With the bad economy, he worries about losing the right to hunt and "being able to feed my family."
Others such as Paul Garin of Clovis said Democrats will raise taxes on ammunition. The high cost of shooting will reduce gun ownership, he said.
"It's an end-run around the issue of gun ownership, essentially making it a hobby for the rich," Garin said.
At John McCormick's Guns and Ammo at Blackstone and Princeton avenues, Paul Campise noted the sales trend, too, as he ticked off hard-to-get weapons. "Short-barreled shotguns, Mini-14s [a semiautomatic rifle], Glocks."
What is driving the run on guns is a fear that the so-called assault weapons ban, which was passed early in the Clinton administration and expired in 2004, will be reinstituted. The measure curtailed the sale of many civilian versions of military weapons, such as the Soviet bloc AK-47 and the U.S.-made AR-15. There also is fear that new restrictions will put the gun industry out of business.
Obama supports making the assault weapons ban permanent, "as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets," according to his Web site.
Bauer said he believes the Obama administration may try to outlaw gun sales within five miles of a school or park.
"That would eliminate almost every gun store in the United States," he said.
The 2008 election results aren't the first instance of rushed buying by gun enthusiasts. It happened after the election of Bill Clinton in 1992 and accelerated when a Democratic Congress passed the ban on assault weapons and the Brady law, which required a waiting period for handgun purchases.
The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., inspired a so-called "primer panic" in 1993 when he advocated a huge increase in federal taxes on ammunition. That sent gun owners who reload ammunition running to buy primers, a key component in handloading. Primers were scarce on gun store shelves for months after.
California gun owners also rushed to buy high-capacity pistol magazines after the state Legislature limited magazines to 10 rounds. Before, some handguns could hold 18 rounds or more.
"When Gov. [Gray] Davis passed [anti-gun] laws, we had a huge surge," Bauer said. "We should have remembered."
California already has more restrictive gun laws than most states, but Mayfield said he believes similar federal laws are on the way.
"It's a foregone conclusion," he said. He discounts the notion that Democrats in rural or Western states will resist new restrictions.
"Democrats are going to vote the party line. It won't be a tough choice."
By early next year, Democrats will be in control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and some believe that means new gun restrictions, or even bans, are on the way. It's the talk in gun stores, at shooting ranges and on firearm-related Web sites.
President-elect Barack Obama tried to reassure voters throughout his campaign that he respects the right to own guns.
His campaign Web site states that he supports "common sense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of guns owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them."
But many aren't convinced.
William Mayfield, a longtime gun dealer who operates a store near First Street and Ashlan Avenue in Fresno, said he can't get any models of the popular Austrian Glock handgun or the American-made Ruger.
"You almost ask the guy what he'll sell you," Mayfield said of distributors.
The situation is the same at Fresno Firearms, near Blackstone and Herndon avenues, said owner Marylyn Panek.
There are "three basic suppliers and you have to wait on the line for a half-hour to talk to them."
The rush started the day Obama was elected president and has intensified, she said.
Barry Bauer of Herb Bauer Sporting Goods at Blackstone and Sierra avenues said, "The distributors are basically sold out. It kind of caught all of us with our pants down."
On a recent afternoon, Bauer's store was crowded with shoppers looking at guns and ammunition. A number of them said they were worried about future gun-control measures, but none of them said that was the reason for their trip to the store.
Larry Vilott of Mariposa said the record of liberal politicians shows gun-control measures will come soon. With the bad economy, he worries about losing the right to hunt and "being able to feed my family."
Others such as Paul Garin of Clovis said Democrats will raise taxes on ammunition. The high cost of shooting will reduce gun ownership, he said.
"It's an end-run around the issue of gun ownership, essentially making it a hobby for the rich," Garin said.
At John McCormick's Guns and Ammo at Blackstone and Princeton avenues, Paul Campise noted the sales trend, too, as he ticked off hard-to-get weapons. "Short-barreled shotguns, Mini-14s [a semiautomatic rifle], Glocks."
What is driving the run on guns is a fear that the so-called assault weapons ban, which was passed early in the Clinton administration and expired in 2004, will be reinstituted. The measure curtailed the sale of many civilian versions of military weapons, such as the Soviet bloc AK-47 and the U.S.-made AR-15. There also is fear that new restrictions will put the gun industry out of business.
Obama supports making the assault weapons ban permanent, "as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets," according to his Web site.
Bauer said he believes the Obama administration may try to outlaw gun sales within five miles of a school or park.
"That would eliminate almost every gun store in the United States," he said.
The 2008 election results aren't the first instance of rushed buying by gun enthusiasts. It happened after the election of Bill Clinton in 1992 and accelerated when a Democratic Congress passed the ban on assault weapons and the Brady law, which required a waiting period for handgun purchases.
The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., inspired a so-called "primer panic" in 1993 when he advocated a huge increase in federal taxes on ammunition. That sent gun owners who reload ammunition running to buy primers, a key component in handloading. Primers were scarce on gun store shelves for months after.
California gun owners also rushed to buy high-capacity pistol magazines after the state Legislature limited magazines to 10 rounds. Before, some handguns could hold 18 rounds or more.
"When Gov. [Gray] Davis passed [anti-gun] laws, we had a huge surge," Bauer said. "We should have remembered."
California already has more restrictive gun laws than most states, but Mayfield said he believes similar federal laws are on the way.
"It's a foregone conclusion," he said. He discounts the notion that Democrats in rural or Western states will resist new restrictions.
"Democrats are going to vote the party line. It won't be a tough choice."
Comments
we then get back to the reason for registration...control!!![:(!]..when you have a gun and it`s registered, you don`t actually own it. why? because the government knows what you have and where it is!!..therefore they can take it whenever they want...it`s up to them!..and they don`t have to pay compensation if they don`t want to...they`ll only offer good cash for them if they aren`t registered!..why? because if you get the knock on the door and refuse to hand them over they will just lock you up until they are turned in or found.
once you have gun registration you don`t have any right to own a gun!..you have a priveledge!..and privelges can be taken away at any time, so therefore your second amendement won`t be worth the paper it`s written on! that guarantees you the right to have guns...registration cancels that right and turns it into a privelege!
good luck...you will need it!...and all you can do to protect yourself is turn into a criminal and refuse to register some and hide them...the law will make you crimminals!..just like it did here with thousands of people![V][:(!][B)]
and remember ...register some so you can be seen to be a good law abading citizen...also it lets you buy ammo legally. there were people here who got caught because they were seen hunting and other people knew they didn`t have a gun licence or register any guns!!
who would you trust????there are a lot of people who will smile to your face, and spit on the ground you walk on as soon as you turn your back!![B)]