Buyers fear a crack down on weapons, ammo

Cincinnati

By Sheil a McLaughlin

January 13, 2009

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090113/NEWS01/301130067

Outside Shooter’s Supply in Lovel and, six men line up on a Wednesday morning waiting impatiently for Marvin Mann to open the small shop at 10 a.m. so they can stock up on guns and ammunition

Less than 10 miles away, a frustrated Mike Sargeant laments how he can’t find any .223- caliber rifle rounds for his customers at Country Attic Treasures General Store in South Lebanon. His distributor is out.

Orders for AR-15 assault rifles are running six months behind

In Northern Kentucky, Alex Logsdon is seeing a rush of first - timers looking to buy a pistol at Shooter’s Supply & Sporting Goods in Indep enden ce

“They come in looking like country- clubbers or people who have never considered owning a gun, ” Logsdon says. “They almost look like, ‘I can’t believe I’m in here.

But I’m buying a gun because of the past election’”

With Democrat Barack Obama a week away from becoming the nation’s 44th president, and Democrats gaining control in Congress, local gun shop owners say they are seeing a steep spike in sales

People fear that the new Congress and the new administration will join forces to push a ban on assault rifles, to restrict magazines that hold more than six rounds, and to impose sharply higher taxes on bullets

So they are snatching up pistols, AK- 47s, AR- 15s and cases of ammunition while they can, the shop owners say

The local rush reflects a national phenomenon that started in November

The barometer – a national system of background checks involving gun sales – shows a 41 percent increase in November over the same month a year ago.

Even with the recession in force, December numbers also were up 23 percent compared to 2007, according to the FBI data

Locally, background checks for Ohio gun sales climbed 7 percent in 2008 over last year; Kentucky saw an 18 perce nt surge

Gun owners have a reason to be jumpy, says Mike Parce ll, of Goshen, who browsed through a rack of used shotguns and rifles at Country Attic last week.

He’s a hobby shooter and collector

“Would it make me go out and buy more guns? No,” said the 50- year- old meat cutter. “It concerns me – his anti-gun beliefs. It affected how I voted .

A lot of people perceive a ban and they are terrified”

Obama hinted that assault rifles were on their way out during his Aug.

29 acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver

“The reality of gun owner ship may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang- violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK- 47s out of the hands of criminals, ” he said

Obama has since defin ed his inten tions even furth er Accor ding to his offic ial Web site, http://www.Obama.com , he and Vice Presi dent- Elect Joe Biden favor , among other gun measu res, a perma nent assau lt weapo ns ban because “such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets”

While assault rifles are in heavy demand at local shops, handguns are selling even faster, shop owners say

“The problem we encounter right now is tryin g to replenish our inventory.

The manufacturers just cannot keep up with the demand,” Mann says

Sargeant says his sales are up at least 25 percent.

He’s selling a lot of “high - end” pistols costing $1,000 or more

Some customers order assault rifles that will set them back about $ 2, 200 for a custom gun

“If I could have got more AR- 15s, I could have sold every thing I could get my hands on,” he says

The gun show business is booming too

Late last month, customers waited 90 minutes in the wind, rain and near- freezing temperatures to get into the Bill Goodman Gun and Knife Show at the Sharo nvill e Convention Center.

The line snaked down a stair way from the second floor, out the build ing and around to a back parking lot

“The last of the line got in at ten ‘til four, and we closed at five,” said Mann, who had a booth at the show. “The gun of choice for the most part was a lot of AK- 47- style and AR- 15 rifle s. Those guns went by noon. Every body was out. Case lots of ammunition – 1, 000-round cases – were gone by noon.

It has been that way ever since (Novem ber)”

David Goodman, who manages the shows for his father, isn’t sure the attendance is record- breaking  “But it’s prett y damn good.

They are worried that Obama is going to restrict their rights to buy ammo and assault weapons and hand guns and the right to defend themselves,” he says

Goodman has concerns of his own about the Obama administration – especially when it comes to the “gun show loophole, ” a measure that would require federal background checks on sales between private owners

Anti- gun advocates say such checks would clamp down on the number of guns in the hands of criminals, even though Goodman says private owners make up only about 5 percent of his vendors and many of them are selling their personal collections

The other gun vendors are federally- licensed dealers who already are required to conduct federal background checks

New regul ation s, if passe d, could make Goodm an crimi nally liabl e for impro per sales at gun shows

“If the ATF can’t polic e it, how am I going to?” Goodm an says

Obama ’s stanc e on gun contr ol stirs plent y of bante r at the Easte rn Hills Gun Club near Owens ville in Clerm ont Count y .

Howev er, John McGee , the club’ s 64- year- old presi dent, think s the recen t run on guns is an over- react ion

McGee said he has seen this sort of panic befor e.

Just think back to Y2K

“People thought they weren ’t going to be able to get toilet paper ,” McGee says.

“So they went to the grocery storY and bought every bit”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090113/NEWS01/301130067