By JOHN RAMSEY
The Fayetteville Observer
Posted: Nov. 16 12:09 p.m.
Updated: Nov. 16 7:32 p.m.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Fear brought Joseph Cannon to Jim's Gun Jobbery on
a recent Wednesday.
But the 53-year-old retired Special Forces soldier isn't afraid for his
safety. He's worried that soon after Jan. 20 - when Barack Obama takes
the presidential oath of office - he won't be able to buy the gun he
wants.
The Fayetteville Observer reports that Cannon, who served on a
marks
manship unit during his 20-year Army career, was out of luck in his
search for a Ruger Mini-30 assault rifle that fires AK-47 rounds. The
$700 gun had sold out by a recent Thursday.
Since the Nov. 4 election, thousands of people have flooded gun dealers
because of the
belief that an Obama presidency - backed by Democratic
majorities in both houses of Congress - will bring tighter gun control
laws. After seeing that Obama supports making permanent the 1994 assault
weapon ban, gun lovers are determined to beat him to the punch.
The result has been Christmas come early for dealers. Jim's Gun Jobbery
in Fayetteville sold more guns on a recent Saturday than on last year's
Christmas Eve, typically one of the busiest days of the year.
Trey Pugh, the store manager, said the scene reminded him of a toy store
on the day after Thanksgiving. People were hurrying to guns as soon as
they got in the door, then keeping their hands on them until they could
make the purchase. More than 100 guns left the store on that day alone,
but sales have been up at least 50 percent since mid-October, he said.
Some models of long guns are selling three or four times more than
usual, he said.
Some background checks were delayed because the FBI hotline that the
shop calls was overwhelmed over the weekend. Several customers had to
return the next day to pick up their guns after they had been cleared.
Jim's hired two people last month to prepare=2
0for the holidays, and the
store is looking for one more employee just to keep up with demand.
"It hit just a fever day the days after the election," he said. "It was
just unbelievable."
The gun salesmen at Gander Mountain on Skibo Road said they've seen t
he
same thing.
The most popular items are semi-automatic assault rifles such as the
AK-47 and AR-15.
The store's gunsmith, Andrew Paige, said he bought the lower parts for
AR-15s as an investment. If they are banned, they'll be worth more in
the future, he said.
And Gander Mountain salesman Craig Hensel said as soon as the new
shipment of AR-15s comes in, he will buy one for himself. Nobody wants
to wait for the hammer to drop on their gun rights, he said.
"Who knows what's going to happen?" Hensel said. "Get 'em while the
gettin's good."
Reports from across the country show sales increasing 30 percent to 40
percent at gun shops in the past few weeks.
Though it's impossible to know whether it's because of the election, the
Cumberland County Sheriff's Office issued 2,334 gun permits between
Sept. 1 and Wednesday, up 27 percent over the same period last year.
So many guns are selling across the U.S. that they're becoming hard to
restock, said Pugh, the manager at Jim's.
Cannon isn't the only person who has been told to come back later. The
demand has shifted from middle-of-the road assault rifles, which are no
longer easy to find, to the
lower-and higher-end models.
"People are saying, 'Give me what you've got,'" Pugh said.
Media reports about the sales have added fuel to the frenzy, he said.
And increased demand has, in turn, led to higher prices.
Guns that sold for $799 a month ago=2
0are selling for $899.
People also are stocking up on ammunition, fearing a dramatic tax
increase on ammo under Obama.
Leading up to the election, the National Rifle Association announced
plans to spend $15 million to portray Obama as a threat to gun rights.
The NRA said Obama would be the "most anti-gun president in American
history."
Doug Pennington, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence, said the NRA didn't scare enough people to elect John McCain
on Nov. 4. But its message obviously played a part in the rush to buy
guns.
Pennington said the Brady Campaign would like to see some tighter gun
laws that Obama has supported.
The easiest would be to fix the gun show loophole and require background
checks for 100 percent of sales. And after Obama deals with two wars and
a faltering economy, some sort of ban on assault weapons should be on
the table, Pennington said.
He describes Obama's stance as one for common sense gun control.
"Barack Obama's not going to take anybody's guns away. He's not going to
take anybody's ammunition away," Pennington said. "It's how many rounds
you can fire at one time with these 30-round magazines. There'
s no real
need for any person to need to fire 30 rounds of these
body-armor-piercing rounds within five seconds like you can with a
semi-automatic AK-47."
Not everyone is ready to give Obama all the credit for the increase in
gun purchases. Sales tend=2
0to rise when the economy falls. Local dealers
say that's always the case.
Bernard Barr at Guns Plus in Spring Lake said sales have been steadily
high because many soldiers buy them for spouses before a deployment.
But Obama's views do trouble him, he said. Barr said the president-elect
seems to want people to give up their Second Amendment right to bear
arms. The assault-rifle ban here doesn't make sense because those
weapons aren't linked to higher crime, he said.
"A guy isn't going to buy a $10,000 rifle and rob a convenience store
with it," he said.
Gun stores are hoping to ride the wave through the holidays, and they
expect another surge just in time for the Jan. 20 inauguration.
But that doesn't mean gun salesmen are elated about Obama.
"It's a double-edged sword," Pugh said. "You're sort of selling your
future."
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