Guns, ammo sales are on the rise

Mebane, N.C. — Some gun owners say a fear of tighter gun control has caused a recent surge of gun and ammunition sales.

“People have been stockpiling, buying it by the case instead of the box, so it’s not available,” gun owner Richard Poole said.

The demand for ammunition is so high that Mace Sports in Mebane has 2 million rounds on back-order, store owners said. The store has limited the number of boxes of ammunition a person can buy based on caliber and supply.

Mace Sports reported a 100 percent increase in gun sales from this time last year.

Poole thinks the increase is due to rumors that the federal government is considering taxing ammunition purchases at 500 percent and requiring a license for ammunition purchases

Mace Sports owners said they have seen a lot of first time gun buyers.

Since June the number of people in Alamance County applying for a permit to carry a concealed weapon has more than doubled from the previous year, according to the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office.

Owners at Mace Sports said it appears manufactures didn't anticipate the recent surge in popularity of smaller handguns and just haven't been able to make enough ammunition.

Poole said he has been shopping around to find ammunition these days.

“I probably shop about six different places, instead of the one store shopping like I used to, just to find what I need,” Poole said. “For the small handgun calibers – what people carry for self-defense – it is just not available.”

This isn’t the first time gun sales have surged in the state. In early November sales jumped amid worries that newly elected President Barack Obama and a Democrat-majority Congress would create tough, new gun laws.

As a U.S. Senator, Obama voted to leave gunmakers and dealers open to lawsuits, and as an Illinois state legislator, he supported a ban on certain weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms.

In the past, gun buyers have said they fear that Democrats will make stricter gun laws, such as the 1990s higher taxes on ammunition; the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004 under Bush; and the Brady Act that established a waiting period for handgun purchases and required background checks for firearm sales.

Gun advocates can take solace in the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 this past summer to strike down the District of Columbia's 32-year handgun restriction. While gun-rights supporters hold a narrow edge on the court, Obama could appoint justices who would swing it the other way.

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And, another thing:

The types of crimes are different here than there. We have more drug ciminals fighting for turf, gang bangers fighting for turf, neighbors fighting for turf, governments fighting for turf than you can shake an English stick at. It's our nature.

Besides that, there are about 61 million of them, versus about 304 million of us. That'll skew your statistics. You're trying to compare apples to oranges.

Glock Ranger
April 22, 2009 5:33 p.m.

"Strange the evidence of every other modern western country does not bear that out. crime rates in the UK (the nearest in culture to the US) are almost exactly the same as in the USA except for murders which are 7X greater. Guns are the difference."

Well, Haggis, you have a right to your opinion, even if it is wrong. Your inferrence that guns are the difference fails to take in the nature of the people in the UK and the difference in crime, laws and court systems on either side of the pond.

The people on the other side of the pond are subjects. They have a different perspective on liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Subjects tend to do what they are told, rather than question the authority of the teller and going on about what they want to do. It's their nature.

The folks on this side of the pond are independent and don't particularly care to be told what to do. Our forebears crossed the pond because they wanted their freedom.

Glock Ranger
April 22, 2009 4:53 p.m.

My AR-15 M4 and other hardware are to ensure that I am not outclassed if confronted in my home. If Red Dawn ever takes place in my neighborhood, I will surely make a good accounting of myself.

Lyle
April 22, 2009 3:49 p.m.

Q:"Also, why on earth do you need an AK-47?" And who are you or anyone else to determine a 'need'? Does anyone need a Mustang or other high-performance car capable of 150mph when the speed limits are 55 to 70 mph? (Darn, that's an unfair comparison, cars don't kill folks, DRIVERS do...) And if you determine that so-called 'assault weapons' should not be owned - how do you define them? Is it 'cause they're black in color, or have a magazine holding over 5, 10, or 20 rounds, or just a folding or collapsible stock, or ones you just don't like the looks of? Are we going in the direction of west-coast antis who refer to any scoped deer rifle as a 'sniper weapon'? As Ted Nugent has been quoted :"If guns cause crime, I guess all of mine are defective".

oldcorp
April 22, 2009 3:20 p.m.

Amazing thing, I've never seen an A bomb go off by itself either but we don't let every hick have one. Handguns and assault weapons are designed to make killing people easy and they do it very well. Thats why we give them to our military and LEOs. Cheap and easy access to guns makes them cheap and easy to get for criminals as well. There are effectively zero guns laws in the US today and the only people who are gaining from this is the gun industry, the tin foil hat brigade and gun trauma surgeons....