Area gun sales spike

By Andy Brown

Published: November 21, 2008

Johnny Boyd has been running Bob Boyd’s General Merchandise for more than 40 years.

In all that time, he’s never seen anything quite like what he’s seen in the last two weeks since Barack Obama was elected president.

“Since the election, ammunition and gun sales have really taken off,” Boyd said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s unbelievable.”

And Boyd has seen plenty while running the Texasville store – Y2K, Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina, which were all major events that caused a spike in gun sales across the nation.

In the last two weeks, Boyd has sold his entire stock of firearms.

“I probably had 30, but we’ve sold everything we had,” he said.

“I ordered four guns on Monday and the lady told me that they probably wouldn’t even ship until Wednesday or Thursday. Because of the demand the suppliers are having a hard time keeping up. Even ammunition is getting hard to come by.”

Wal-Mart manager Marcus Johnston said the store had seen an increase in ammunition sales, especially for handguns, but had not seen a significant spike in the sale of firearms.

“We haven’t seen a big fluxation,” Johnston said. “Two weeks out from hunting season, we always see an increase in gun sales, and that’s been the case this year, but no more so than normal for this time of year.”

Firearms dealers in much of the United States are reporting significantly higher sales since the election. 

Both buyers and sellers attribute the increase to concerns that Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will move to restrict firearm ownership.

“It’s because of the election,” Boyd said.

“People are worried they aren’t going to be able to get (firearms) as easily.”

The Clinton administration imposed a ban on several types of military-style semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines in 1994, but that ban was allowed to lapse in 2004.

“I think where stores and dealers across the country are seeing the big increase is in assault rifles,” Johnston said.

“Some people are worried they won’t be able to get those anymore following the election, so they’re going out and buying them.”

Obama has proposed restoring the ban on the purchase of military-style semi-automatic rifles, requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows, and other “common-sense measures.”

Obama has been quoted as saying he supports the rights of local governments to set their own gun laws, but believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects individual gun rights.

“I believe the Second Amendment means something.

“I do think it speaks to an individual right,” Obama said in Milwaukee, Wis., in February.