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FIREARMS

Gun Sales Surge After Newtown Shooting

It's being called the "Sandy Hook" effect

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: banoosh.com

Gun sales and background checks surged to record-setting peaks following the shool shooting in Newtown.

Colorado has seen a "record-setting volume" of background check applications, according to CNBC. On Saturday, the day after the shooting, saw 4,154 applications - an all-time high. Likewise, in Virginia police received 4,166 background check applications on Saturday - the highest number ever recorded.

The shooting has been followed by a "national shortage" of weapons and ammo, according to one Texas gun store owner, who expects his sales for the year to double. Store owners in California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina all claim to have seen a record spike in sales the weekend after the shooting, Salon reports.

But gun buyback programs in urban areas have also been thriving since the shooting. Gun buybacks run by police in Oakland, CA and Camden, NJ, had their most successful weekends ever, with 1,137 firearms returned in Camden alone, according to the Atlantic Wire. Which leads one to wonder whether net gun ownership is increasing or decreasing in the wake of the shooting.

Via CNBC, Salon, and the Atlantic Wire.

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If you're a gun owner - have you considered buying more firearms this week?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • MarkJM
    !
    I'm going to the Nation's Gun Show here in Chantilly, VA on the 28th of Dec. I already have an AR15, a 1911 .45 ACP, and a Glock 19. This trip will probably entail picking up more rounds (have to stock up again after the range). Unless there's a really good deal offered to me, this trip will be about accessories and ammo. I already have mine, and so long as the government doesn't try to take em' away, I have no issue.
  • UnCommonBoston
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    Once when there a forecast of a BIG snow storm forecasted, I went to the Franklin Farms Giant to do my regular shopping. I had a long list. People sneered at me because they thought I was panicking. Nope, we were just out of stock. Gun owners need stuff too. If you are running low, now is certainly a good time to buy. You were going to buy it anyway.
  • FFX_VA
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    I might stop by that show too, heard it's good. What's a good range in the FFX area? I heard the NRA range is full and not accepting new members. I haven't shot in a long time but was thinking of starting up the hobby again.
  • MarkJM
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    @FFX_VA The NRA Range is full. Regarding Fairfax County I'm not so sure of ranges. There's Clark Brothers in Warrenton open from 9am to 5pm 7 days a week (closed on certain holidays). No hourly rate, you just have to sign a liability form, review safety rules, and provide your own ammo, hearing, and eye protection. Silver Eagle Group in Ashburn is a good spot as well. There used to be an indoor range I frequented in Woodbridge, but that shop closed down.

    As for the Nation's Gun Show, I have attended twice this year. It's a very good show, well respected. I have seen some very good deals, and not just on firearms, but ammo and accessories as well. If you go, get there early (probably a couple hours before they even open), the lines form quickly and people are quick to snap up the best deals from all the booths.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @UnCommonBoston Not very smart people. Buy when prices are low, when there is a surge of demand, a shortage of supply, prices rise. These are the kind of people who lose in the stock market, and cann't figure out why...

  • View all 17 replies >

  • UnCommonBoston
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    As an artist, if there is any possiblity that something I work with could go off the market, I stock up. When certian paints, that are poisonous if swallowed, were banned, I purchased lots (and remember no to eat it) I think gun owners feel the same way. There is a good chance gun safety laws will be tightened and things they love maybe tand taken off the market. Plus there is the overwhelming fear something will happen to your loved ones and the desire to protect them is strong.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    Yea, but its not going off the market tomorrow. Yea, I remember the reformulation thing, but no law passed, it was volutary. Oh, yes, their loved ones...the guns, now I kinda get that...
  • UnCommonBoston
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    @PoliticalSpice if something you use all the time, that is a part of the work you you do, is about to pulled from the market, what would you do? Actually the paint dropped in price, the stores did not want it. What will gun stores do with their inventory if certain things are banned? The paint is investment of sorts, but not the same way land, stocks or bond are
  • o
    woodtick57
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    @UnCommonBoston Back in my landscaping days, they pulled many chemicals off the market as they were not really safe for public use. Do you think it would have been wise for me to stock up on them so I could use them longer?
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @UnCommonBoston Well unlike your paint, there will be a run on the stores to buy the inventory before the ban takes effect. Predict another surge in buying as soon as a bill passes in congress.
    I like the way you think. You use oils? As investments go the land can support you if the economy falls apart and your stocks and bonds become worthless, because it can feed you. Guns too, if you hunt. Ironically I live in a city and have neither, so I'm screwed. As of now though, I'm stocked up with everything I need till the end of the world, which if I understand it correctly, is sometime tomorrow.

  • View all 17 replies >

  • FFX_VA
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    I was in Dick's Sporting Goods in FFX on Sat and the gun area was packed. A guy from MD was in there, wanted to buy a gun (not sure what model, quasi assault style) but the clerk said because the guy was a Maryland resident he couldn't sell him that particular gun because it was illegal in MD. He then sold the exact same gun to a guy from VA. All you could do is shake your head and laugh. I told the guy he needed to move to VA!
  • FFX_VA
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    @UnCommonBoston Yep, People's Republic of Maryland. All us Virginians in the store chuckled a little bit. An example of a poor life decision on his part :)
  • UnCommonBoston
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    @FFX_VA. Southerns had problems with my Yankee ways, but Fairfax County was one cool place. They planned ahead by building and expanding roads before they were needed, planned for open space, conservation areas and had good practical environmental regulations, required food plains, spent money on infrastructure --- like efficient and environmentally sound sewage and water processing plants and one of the best fire depts in the country. Virginia expanded the beltway and Maryland doesn't keep up. However, the commonwealth got burned on the initial building of Route 66 and by Sierra Club over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Did you know Maryland does not want any more bridges build over the Potomac?
  • MarkJM
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    I believe it. And 0we'Malley wants to further place tight restrictions on law-abiding MD residents. I'm so glad I decided to settle in VA a long time ago. And MD wonders why their crime rate is substantially higher compared to VA crime rate. I don't do any business in MD. The only money they get from me is when I pass through to visit family in Upstate NY by paying tolls (which is not very often, last time was over 3 years ago).
  • DerivePI
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    @UnCommonBoston - Have you been inside of the Fairfax County building? You guys are making a lot of money of the Federal Government. Montgomery County is too, but they don't show it off nearly as much (probably because it takes so long for the money to commute back across the potomac). It must be good to be so near to such a constant growth industry.

  • View all 13 replies >

  • stepped_in_it
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    Yep, and did. It will be here come Friday/Monday. And for you idiot "reporters", call it the Sandy Hook KNEE JERK effect. Now, want to clarify something. I not a gun nut. I only want to protect myself and my family. Don't own many guns. Don't believe in it. Only have 2 hands so I don't need an arsenal! I use judgement and have a safe. AND, I have no kids in the house! For you "gun nuts" who have one under every pillow/couch/room, go get some help OR move to a better neighborhood. You're nuts!
  • TheJimmy
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    This news makes me feel even more optimistic that someone I love will be buying me that Red Ryder BB gun that I've always wanted for Christmas.
  • bsking
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    like I said last week there were 300,000,000 Guns and circulation, after Obama announced his grab.... they'll be 400,000,000 guns in circulation.
  • Drake_Burrwood
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    I bought an air soft pistol and a 200 shot in gun BB magazine air rifle for my wife to get in practice cheap. The ammo for her pistols and rifle is not that bad but firing a thousand rounds of BBs is cheap.
  • Thunderchicken
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    "200 shot in gun BB magazine air rifle for my wife to get in practice cheap."

    Anything to keep your eye sharp. And you don't have to pick up the casings!
  • u
    tomincali
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    i thought this was the obama effect,gun sales have shot way up after the second election for fear of what he is trying to do now. seems most of us already knew he was going to try and pull something.

    he has been looking at anyway he can come up with to do this after f&f backfired in their faces and they even got away with those crimes.
  • Drake_Burrwood
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    There is way to much fear, both sides are in a rage at the number the others sides policies will kill. And some don't seem to care what they do to save just one more life (no matter how many die to do it.)
  • u
    tomincali
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    @Drake_Burrwood i think we seen that with f&f all seen what else was being told to the public all the while hiding the gov was doing it all. that needs to be investigated and some high ups need to fall for it.
  • artjeb
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    Darn right. That's why the forefathers put in the second amendment to protect the citizens from govt intrusion on the public
  • artjeb
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    If I didn't have one foot in the grave & the other on a banana peel I most likely would buy another gun. Most likely a desert eagle in 50 cal. What a wicked weapon.... the report is enough to make a person get thier panties in a bunch
  • Newheart200
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    Yes I have .i now own my first semi-automatic rifle.I also bought several large capacity clips and cases of ammo.Screw the anti gun liberal bastards.
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