orried New Yorkers are looking to pack some heat.Posted on 10/15/2001 3:24:28 AM PDT by kattracks
orried New Yorkers are looking to pack some heat.
Police, lawyers and local gun ranges say they have received almost double the normal number of calls daily from people wanting to buy a gun, get a firearms license or take shooting lessons since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Absolutely," said Don Spallone, manager of the Woodhaven Rifle and Pistol Range in Queens. "We've been getting calls constantly about the licensing procedure."
"After the 11th, things were quiet for a week," said Darren Leung, co-owner of the Westside Rifle and Pistol Range on W. 20th St. in Manhattan. "Now we're getting more and more calls every day from people who want to know how to go about getting a gun."
It could be a national trend.
Guns Selling Fast
Jon Board, firearms instructor at the National Survival Store in Las Vegas, said customers are snatching up handguns in the $100-$200 range as fast as the shop can stock them.
It was unclear how many of the local callers would actually go on to secure gun permits. New York City's gun permit process is particularly arduous — requiring reams of paperwork, fingerprint and background checks, which can take six to eight months to complete.
 |
 |
| Gunning for Bin Laden: Manhattan pistol range offers an Osama target. |
Sgt. Steven Oteri of the NYPD's licensing division said that although calls have increased there has not been a similar increase in applications, primarily because 1 Police Plaza, where that office is located, was off-limits to civilians for several weeks after the World Trade Center attack.
He expected better figures to be available this week.
Lawyer John Chambers, a former prosecutor who helps clients negotiate the city's gun licensing process, said he also has received more queries about the procedure.
"We're seeing a 30 to 40% increase in queries," Chambers said. "We're finding since Sept. 11 that we're getting more calls from people who want to have a gun in the home to protect their families." Spallone said many of the recent inquiries at the Woodhaven Rifle and Pistol Range have come from lower Manhattan residents who "live close to where the devastation occurred."
Many are discouraged when they learn about the licensing process. "You can't even fire a gun here without a license," Spallone said.
More Target Practice
Leung said that in addition to the increase in phone inquiries at Westside Rifle and Pistol Range he has noticed more club members and police — particularly state police stationed in the city — coming in for target practice.
His partner, Robert Derrig, said customers are also stocking up on ammunition — and not the solid-projectile practice rounds but people-stopping, hollow-point bullets.
Pepper spray is also a hot item, Derrig said.
"People want to protect their families," Leung said. "This is not to say people don't have faith in the police. They just want to make sure they can take care of their families."
New York City residents aren't the only ones making their way to gun dealers. Leung said a Rochester arms distributor he deals with said he sold 400,000 rounds of ammunition in one week, more than he typically sold in a year.
Pump-action shotguns also were flying off the shelves of the upstate distributor, Leung said.
Board said National Survival Store customers are snatching up 9-mm. and .45-caliber pistols. "They aren't interested in carrying a gun for personal protection," Board said. "This is more like impulse, panic buying."
About dam' time! So sensible people, when feeling threatened, arm themselves? Makes perfect sense to me, and gives lie to the anti's propaganda war.
And I hope the voters will remember who helped chip away our Second Amendment rights, and toss the SOB's next election....
[Fat chance of that; she keeps a better inventory in her head than I have on paper...]
So nice to know that solid-projectile practice rounds aren't harmful to people. Is HCI aware of this developement?
"People want to protect their families," Leung said. "This is not to say people don't have faith in the police. They just want to make sure they can take care of their families."
This IS to say that people don't have faith in the police.
Some people actually did wake up to the wake-up call. Sheeple hit the snooze button.
Here in the Burlington, North Carolina area, my favorite shop had no increase in gun or ammo sales three days after 9/11.
Truth be known, so few people down here don't have guns that first-time panic buying is implausible for most down here.
Scandals of antigun politicians - from Kalifornia to New York City!
That's right, make the damned process so complicated that you need an atty. to permit you to buy something the legal profession and the "Gun Control Freaks" were trying to take away. Although I agree some "panic" buying probably is taking place, the process should not be complicated enough that attys.are necessary to make a legal purchase to defend yourself. Excuse me mister mugger, would you please hold me up in 7 months after I can get a Permit to defend myself?
So many to choose from, everyone should have one of each.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.