Post-election gun sales up locally (Monterey, California)

The Monterey Herald ^ | November 28, 2008 | John Sammon

[2ndDivisionVet]

Local residents concerned that the election of Barack Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will translate into stricter gun laws are buying more guns. But sales are not as brisk as in other states, possibly because California already has some of the strictest gun laws on the books.

"I'd say we're up in the sales of guns about 30 percent," said Paul Berezay, store manager of Big 5 Sporting Goods in Salinas. "People evidently think because of the election, guns are going to go away. They don't seem to know that California is already one of the strictest states when it comes to gun laws."

California has a ban on assault guns and automatic weapons, and requires a 10-day background check before a person can buy a gun. Such a ban existed nationally during the Clinton administration in the 1990s, but has since expired. Democrats are talking about reinstating the law, for which the newly-elected Obama has expressed support.

Nationally, according to figures released by the FBI, sales of guns are up approximately 54 percent, especially in states like Nevada, where a shopper can walk in and purchase a gun over the counter with no background check.

"You'll see a run on guns if anything changes here in California," said Ralph Price, owner of J&D Guns & Ammo in King City. "After Clinton got elected, we sold more guns than in the five years previous to the election. I couldn't keep guns in stock.

"But reinstituting a ban on assault weapons won't impact us. We already have one."

Price, who said he has a small-sized store, added that he sold 300 guns last year.

"Our pace right now is up a little bit from that," he said.

According to figures released by the California Department of Justice, approximately 1,000 handguns are sold in California each day during normal times. However, sales have been running about double that amount over the past few weeks.

Markley's Indoor Range and Gun Shop in Watsonville is one of the largest gun retailers in the region, featuring an indoor shooting range. Store employee Paul Cunningham said the sales of guns there are up 30 percent to 40 percent in the past few weeks.

He said the type of customer coming into the store and inquiring about guns now includes people rarely seen in the past.

"They seem to feel there's going to be a pinch in the availability of guns," he said. "Some of them are people who never owned a gun before. They think it might be their last chance to own one, and that has them stocking up."

Sales of weapons don't seem to be negatively affected by hard economic times. On the contrary, bad times tend to increase uncertainty, which causes people to buy guns. Gun dealers witnessed similar sales spikes right after the Y2K scare at the turn of the millennium, and in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Matt Derbyshire, store manager of Outdoor World in Monterey, also noted an approximate 30 percent sales increase.

"We're selling more pistols," he said. "People are afraid of possible stricter laws. Right now, in California, you can't buy .50-caliber weapons or assault rifles like an AK-47, and 10 rounds in a clip is maximum.

"But people think Obama doesn't want anybody to have a gun. As a result, some of our customers are little old ladies you wouldn't have seen in the store before."

California allows only semi-automatic weapons, in which the trigger needs to be pulled for each shot, resulting in a much slower rate of fire than an automatic.

Jeff Pluta, owner of Hunter's Supply in Salinas that opened a few months ago, said people suspect there could be changes in gun laws.

"I think people are a little over-excited because of Obama," he said. "But I can't see much difference in California law, because we're already so strict."

Phil Penko, deputy police chief and spokesman for the Monterey Police Department, said more guns on the street are always a concern for law enforcement officials.

"It's not the people buying guns who are law-abiding citizens who practice the correct safety procedures, but guns falling into the wrong hands that's our concern," he said. "We are very strict in this state, and it even applies to the police. We had one officer who was a collector and wanted a gun, and he had to go through all the (legal) hoops.

"But my advice to people is, they need to know how to safely operate and store weapons, especially when there are children in the house."

[2ndDivisionVet]

Glad I left there in 1974.

[Bon mots]

All these gun sales are thanks to Obama... who said that he does not know how to boost the economy?

[ZULU]

The Media is HYPING this and I DON’T like it.

It might be to set the stage for limited gun purchases under Obama.

If any gunstore owner or salespeople are reading this, my suggestion is to simply refuse to talk to these people about this subject.

You are NOT obligated to communicate with some media representative just because they ask you a question and I don’t think they can force any store to release data on their gun sales.

[griswold3]

Bullets, Bacon and Butter!

You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“Nationally, according to figures released by the FBI, sales of guns are up approximately 54 percent, especially in states like Nevada, where a shopper can walk in and purchase a gun over the counter with no background check.”
Two comments, the first being that the background check is instant and national, the second being that it's obvious that the murder rate in Nevada must be phenomenal compared to Kali Forn Ia. /s.

[piroque]

Nationally, according to figures released by the FBI, sales of guns are up approximately 54 percent, especially in states like Nevada, where a shopper can walk in and purchase a gun over the counter with no background check.

You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows , and this writer is an IDIOT

[G.Mason]

... "It's not the people buying guns who are law-abiding citizens who practice the correct safety procedures, but guns falling into the wrong hands that's our concern," ... Phil Penko, deputy police chief of the Monterey PD

How is your teaching the "correct safety procedures" to, or your disarming of those gangs going chief?

[SSG Rock66]

Gee, I wonder why the rush on guns? What with Obama touting a one million man national, internal security force. Why would the average American have any need at all to own a gun? Think maybe he is going to send them house to house and collect up all privately owned weapons? Think they’ll have much luck? Not at my house they won’t. We’ve got a constitutional right to own weapons. And I swore an oath many years ago to protect the constitution from all enemise, both foreign and domestic. Think it is possible for the POTUS to become a domestic enemy by undermining our constitution? An intersting question to ponder.....

[umgud]

This is back up at Obama's Change.gov site:

http://change.gov/agenda/urbanpolicy_agenda/

• Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.

[a real Sheila]

what kind of IDIOT would sign up for the job of going house to house for weapon confiscation? That is a death wish, particularly in the South!

[QBFimi2]

Our local Colorado sporting goods store (where we teach our NRA and concealed carry courses) is largely devoid of customers until about 4:30 PM. Then, customer after customer streams in and heads directly to the gun counter, often standing three deep. Gun and ammunition sales have gone through the roof. The ethnic mix of customers is interesting. How ironic that the Black community, who so unthinkingly supported a candidate based on color alone, was the prime target of anti-gun legislation. All too many of their pastors and leftist "leaders" must be horrified.

For a great read, Google up "Racist Origins of Gun Control" (If you know nothing of this, start with the GeorgiaCarry.org title "Disarm the Negroes; The Racist Roots of Georgia's Gun Laws" published in November, 2007)

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“Think it is possible for the POTUS to become a domestic enemy by undermining our constitution? An intersting question to ponder.”
I think that the majority of DemonRAT politicians have already met that criteria for at least two decades. Unfortunately, they have stacked the deck in their favor, making it difficult, if not impossible to expose the depth of their treachery. Couple that with a basically lazy, illiterate and dependent voter base, and they can pretty much circumvent the Constitution at will. The easiest way to tell what a DemonRAT is up to is to see what they are accusing the opposition of doing. The Democrat party has become THE enemy of the Republic, far surpassing the meager efforts of foreign communists and even Al Qaeda. I'm sure my statements would be viewed as reactionary and extreme by some, so be it. The snowflake of socialism has been rolling down hill for some time, and is already reached critical mass and terminal velocity. It only remains to be seen if it's path can be diverted or if it will flatten all in it's path.

[woofer]

A wise old codger once told me to only have self defence weapons that are chambered the same as the military.

That way there is always ammunition.

[pray4liberty]

It only remains to be seen if it's path can be diverted or if it will flatten all in it's path.

Looks like there are a lot of people who are preparing to jump out of the way.

[TheConservativeParty]

I have developed a nice customer-salesman relationship with 2 guys at my local gunshop since Nov.4th. I have been there so much, we greet eachother as friends now! Thanks Zero, I wouldn’t have went there at all without you! I was content with what I already had! There is no such thing as too much ammo, but there might be such a thing as too many guns for one gal to have. Oh geez I forgot, all my guns fell out of my fishing boat last week,,,,oh how I miss them.....I will just cuddle with my ammo and remember the guns fondly. sniff sniff. They were nice little guns. Weep Weep.

[xrmusn]

Well, Virginia says you can buy 1 gun per month.
In my way of thinking you are SUPPOSED to buy 12 guns per year.
Like the old 24 cans of beer in a case and 24 hours in a day.
You do the math.

G Gordon Liddy was commenting on his weapons and a caller asked him about his breaking the law by owning weapons as a convicted felon.
Liddy replied, “MRS LIDDY has a fine collection of weapons”

[combat_boots]

Don’t forget the ammo. IIRC, 0bomber wanted to raise the tax on ammo at 500% or some such in Illinois.