Guns! Guns! Guns!: Assault rifles, high-capacity magazines flying off local shelves following election

Nov 26, 2008 (Odessa American - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TEJS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Jeff Bussell of Brush Mountain Outfitters said he isn't a fan of Barack Obama's position on gun control, but at least for now, Obama's been good for Bussell's business.

Bussell said the firearm sales at his shop tripled since the Democratic senator from Illinois was elected to be the next president earlier this month. Two other local gun shop owners approached by the Odessa American reported similar rushes on guns, especially assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, which are capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Both only became legal again after the Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004.

"I think everybody's just afraid of Obama's stance on gun control," Bussell said. "It's very ironic how he's so tight with guns, by his getting elected he's put a lot more guns out there."

The local shops are reporting the same trend seen in many gun and pawn shops throughout the country. Numerous reports from places between Phoenix and Maine show gun sales shooting through the roof since the final weeks before the election.

Kimberly Stafford, the owner of Tejas Shooting Sports, said she also had a rush on all the guns in her shop, even though she didn't provide an estimate of how many she was selling. She said her customers were concerned Obama's administration "will pass another crime bill," referring to the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton.

"People can buy those guns," she said as her husband, Mike Stafford, displayed an AR-15 with a telescoping butt stock, "but they can't buy them configured the way they were."

Mike joked as he extended and retracted the stock. "Good thing they passed a law to ban that. Don't you feel safer?"

Len Redmon said she came to Tejas from Gardendale to get two 20-gauge shotguns and a .45 caliber Glock Saturday afternoon. She already bought a .40 caliber Glock Friday, and she said she plans to enroll in a concealed weapon class.

Had Obama not been elected, she said she wouldn't have been gun shopping.

"I feel they're going to change the laws concerning guns. I think the Second Amendment may be changed," she said. "I think they're going to change several things in the Constitution, and I think the Second Amendment will be one of them."

The rush and rumored taxes coming against ammunition also created some shortages even on rifles that wouldn't have been affected by a resurrection of the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

"Looking for a Bushmaster .223 (caliber)? Good luck," said Cesar Villanueva, the assistant manager of the Big Tex Pawn Shop. He said those rifles and several others were hard to come by during the past month because other shops were ordering them out during this rush.

Joe Duncan was not nearly as concerned while he and his son were shopping for a .223 caliber rifle at Brush Mountain. He already has two rifles, three shotguns and three pistols at home.

"We don't have any desire to buy an AR-15," he said.

By the numbers

--318: Number of concealed weapons permits issued in Ector County between Sept. 1, 2007, and Aug. 31, 2008.

--9: Number of qualified concealed weapons instructors in Ector County.

Source: Texas Department of Public Safety.

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