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Handgun sales at historic low, despite post-Sept. 11 surge
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Handgun sales at historic low, despite post-Sept. 11 surgeBy DON THOMPSON Associated Press WriterPublished 4:30 p.m. PST Monday, March 18, 2002SACRAMENTO (AP) - California gun sales surged briefly after September's terrorist attacks, but handgun sales for the year dropped to an all-time low, the California Department of Justice said Monday.Weapons sales spiked by about 2,700 guns a week for about six weeks after Sept. 11, said spokesman Mike Van Winkle, to about 9,200 a week from an average 6,500 per week earlier in the year.Then sales leveled off once more, resulting in total sales last year of 354,202 weapons - "a fairly average year," Van Winkle said. Until Sept. 11, overall sales of handguns and long guns had been lagging far behind 2000 levels, and finished the year 8.2 percent below the 386,210 sales in 2000.However, handgun sales dropped 23 percent, from 201,865 in 2000 to 155,203 last year, the fewest sales since record-keeping began in 1972. The previous low was in 1998, before fears of the approaching millennium sent sales higher in 1999.Sales in recent years have been split roughly evenly between handguns and long guns. That is a shift from most of the 1990s, when handguns outsold rifles and shotguns about three-to-two.Long gun sales topped handgun sales last year for only the second time since the state began keeping long gun records in 1991. Handguns also lagged long guns in 1999. Long gun sales increased 7.3 percent last year over 2000. "It almost seemed like handgun sales almost stopped the last two months of the year," said Luis Tolley of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly known as Handgun Control. "There's certainly been a major change in attitude about buying handguns - whatever caused it. It's a great thing."High-profile crimes committed with handguns may have made people gun shy, Tolley suggested. Also, he speculated the state's changing demographics may be playing a role, even as the state's population continues to grow.But Ed Worley of National Rifle Association-California Grassroots said gun dealers tell him the majority of sales are to first-time buyers who "just decide they want protection, for whatever reason," including post-Sept. 11 trauma.While handgun sales reached a historic low, ebbs and surges aren't uncommon, said Van Winkle. For instance, there was a big jump after the 1992 Los Angeles riots when a record 433,822 were sold, and a spike in 1999 likely prompted by the millennium scare and a pending ban on assault weapons.Worley blamed last year's economic downturn."It's a discretionary item," Worley said. "I couldn't afford to go out and buy a new handgun right now."The California Rifle and Pistol Association put up about 300 billboards in October with the message, "Society is safer when criminals don't know who's armed." However, the association said the campaign was planned and paid for before Sept. 11.In response to that campaign, and to what it said was gun manufacturers' efforts to cash in on Sept. 11, the Washington-based Alliance for Justice put up 135 billboards in the Los Angeles area in December asserting that guns bought for self-defense lead to an increase in domestic violence, suicide and accidental shootings.The state justice department blocked 3,607 sales last year because the potential purchaser had a criminal record, an active warrant or restraining order, or a mental health history. The bulk of the blocked sales - 2,875 of them - were for criminal convictions. http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/1886893p-1983492c.html
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"The 2nd Amendment is about defense, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member."