The Economist: Soaring gun sales in Arizona - Planning for the worst

Soaring gun sales in Arizona
Planning for the worst

Jun 4th 2009 | PHOENIX
From The Economist print edition

Gun-owners are on the defensive

AT THE National Rifle Association’s 138th annual convention, held this year in Phoenix, Arizona, 65,000 people poured through the doors. They admired the fancy firearms, snacked on grilled buffalo and were happily recruited by shooting associations. Tom Power, of the Texas Gun Collectors Association, says membership has been soaring since Barack Obama took office. Bill Bachenberg, the owner of a shooting range near Allentown, Pennsylvania, has been registering 400 new members a month. “American gun-owners don’t trust this administration,” he says.

American gun sales surged after Mr Obama was elected president. He had a voting record of raising the tax on guns and ammunition by 500%, and, on top of that, he hinted during the campaign that he might restrict gun sales and create a national registry of gun-owners. The election was seven months ago, and the buying spree has not flagged since. Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which serve as a gauge of actual sales, reported 1,255,980 checks in April 2009: a sixth monthly increase, and a 30.3% increase from the 940,961 reported last April.

Concealed-weapon permits are up, too. Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Montana all report a rise in licences issued; Ohio saw a 139% increase in the first quarter of this year over last. Meanwhile, classes on gun rules in Phoenix are booked solid for months, ammunition is sold out, and gunmakers and dealers alike are scrambling to keep up with demand.

Sun Devil Manufacturing in Mesa, for example, which makes semi-automatic rifles for $1,000 or so less than its competitors, is running three production shifts a day. Guns Etc, a shop in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, is selling 50-70 handguns a week, compared with 30 before the election, and sales of AR-15 and AK-47 semi-automatic rifles have nearly doubled. On a Friday afternoon the store is packed with men, retired and young, buying revolvers, semi-automatics and shotguns. Young mums browse the daintier pistols.....