Fearing that the US president will outlaw guns during his second term, owners have been stocking up on weapons causing a surge in sales
Selling like hotcakes: In October, the number of background checks on people applying to buy guns — an indicator of future sales — increased by 18.4 per cent. representation Pic/Getty Images
Mel Bernstein, owner of Dragonman Arms in Colorado Springs, Colorado said, “We’re going from normally six to eight guns a day, to 25. I stocked up, I got a stockpile of these AK-47s, we’re selling these like hot cakes. Luckily, I had an idea of what was going on because it happened with Clinton.”
John Kielbasa, owner of Fernwood Firearms in Hankins, New York said, “Sales are up. I had a guy waiting here first thing in the morning. He came in, bought two AK-47s. It’s going to be good for me for business.”
Stock prices for gun makers Smith & Wesson and Sturm also went up after US President Obama’s re-election. US President Obama actually loosened gun laws in his first term, allowing weapons in national parks.
However, the gun control debate in America was re-ignited by the July 20 massacre at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, in which suspect James Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 during a screening of Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. He used a semi-automatic rifle with a 100-round magazine.
In a presidential debate on Octover 16, US President Obama said: “What I’m trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced.”
US President Obama would still have to get any new gun restrictions past Republicans in Congress, which is unlikely.u00a0
Driving sales
In 2008, when US President Obama was first elected a total of 12.7 million background checks were carried out that year, up from 11.2 million the year before
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