Gun sales up in Northwest Indiana

[tattedupboy]

This appeared in my hometown newspaper today. Obviously this news comes as no surprise to anyone on this site, but I live here and this is the most liberal part of the state. I guess even liberals are smart enough to know that the guy they just voted into office is putting their gun rights in jeopardy.

Local gun sales up pre-inauguration :: Local News :: Post-Tribune

The prospect that guns might become more difficult to purchase once President-elect Barack Obama takes office has more Northwest Indiana residents snatching up firearms almost as fast as some local stores can stock them.

"We are at the point right now where there are just not enough available because they are sold out. It seems like that's the case across the country," said Earl Westforth, owner of Westforth Sports Shop in Calumet Township.

Business was up about 63 percent in November, a fact Westforth attributes to the Jan. 20 change in president and a remodel the business just completed.

Les Blythe, owner of Blythe's Sports Shop in Valparaiso said he, too, is having trouble keeping his shelves stocked. November was the store's best month ever for gun sales in the more than 50 years the family has run the business. Sales doubled over November 2007.

Sales have slowed a bit in December, but he attributes that to lack of supply. Blythe said if he could get more weapons from his distributors he would be able to sell them.

It isn't just hunters, collectors and firearms enthusiasts driving sales to unprecedented levels. Local retailers are seeing an increase in what would be considered average people and even senior citizens opening up their wallets to purchase guns.

"It's a good mixture. We've been seeing a bit of everybody," Blythe said.

He gave the example of a recent customer, a woman in her 60s, who came in to buy a handgun and take a gun safety course.

Westforth also said the type of person buying a gun recently has been different from his usual clientele.

"The strangest thing that I see is we are getting a lot of elderly people in," Westforth said.

He said longtime customers who have never purchased a weapon are pulling him aside and telling him they are thinking about buying a gun and "just putting it away in case they don't let us have one."

Although Obama has come out in support of "commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners," according to his Web site, many remain worried.

According to Change.org Obama supports closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country child proof. He also supports making permanent the federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004.

However, the new president will be faced with myriad complex issues such as revitalizing the economy, as well as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, so just where gun control will fall on the priorities list isn't clear.

Blythe said he is "pretty much sure" Obama will bring back the gun restrictions that were enacted in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban approved by former President Bill Clinton and so are his customers.

He expected people would be buying primarily handguns, but all types of weapons including AR-15s and AK-47s have been in high demand.

"Most of it is the possibility they are not going to be able to get them in near future," Blythe said. "Some of these rifles we sold in the last month, they will never be shot. They will be put in a safe or closet and never get out of the box."

Westforth said he hopes bringing back the ban put in place by Clinton is all the new president will do. He is concerned the restrictions will be much more severe.

"The original ban was nothing. It just created panic toward the public. I think if they do another ban it will be really severe. That's where you are going to see really big changes," Westforth said.

Like many, he questions the effectiveness of gun-control legislation in stopping crime.

"They could take the guns away from the public, but criminals can still get guns," Westforth said, adding even without guns, crime would persist. "You take three or four of these kids and give them all baseball bats and they can do just as good a job."

[Comp_sH00tEr24]

No surprise here. I myself am from The Region (Crown Point). I bought my beretta px4 sc after the election, however i intended to do so before it. I'm just glad to see the sales up and that it's actually catching the eyes of some of the media. I wonder how many idiots out there that are spoon fed by the liberal media found it strange that BGs arent the only ones with guns.

[Scarecrow]

I am not at all excited to see what obama is going to try to do with our 2A rights. hopefully I can get a couple more before he tries to do something too over the edge.

[HK4U]

The question is, is there any place the sales are not up?

[AllAmerican]

The question is, is there any place the sales are not up?

Other than Chicago I think they are up everywhere.

There is no ammo here as of last week unless you shoot .40 S&W. There are still plenty of pistols but they have been jacked up a bit in price. Still I guess folks are buying them.

We had a gun show 2 weekends ago and I was told that the first day there were more people than they have ever had over the 2 day event. I heard the 2nd day of the show was just as packed. Glad I got in early on Sunday and got out while it was only mildly crowded.

Sales are up everywhere.