Guns Sales May be Dwindling
New data from the FBI shows background checks for people looking to buy guns were down ten percent last month. Still, local sellers say sales are booming.In December, more than 2.7 million background checks were processed nationally. Last month, numbers dropped to just under 2.5 million.Saturday, January 19th was the tenth highest day for backgrounds checks since the FBI started keeping track in 1998.A manager at Black Rifle, a gun shop that specializes in AR-15 guns, says proposed legislation isn’t stopping people from shopping for guns.”When people are told they can’t have something, it seems as though, based on our sales, that they want it even more,” Larry Wayland said.Christopher Enke was at Black Rifle shopping for a rifle. He confirms Wayland’s theory of why people are flocking to gun shops.”Might as well buy when I can,” Enke said.ABC 17’s Janai Norman asked, “Are you nervous about legislation?””Oh yeah,” Enke said. “Everybody is. That’s what it’s all flying off the shelves.”And that’s causing a shortage for suppliers. Wayland says he’s heard of shops selling nine to 12 months worth of products in about 30 days.”The pipelines have been drained; our distributors are out of stock on product,” Wayland told ABC 17 News. “We’ve struggled to stay in stock on rifles and handguns, ammunition is in very short supply.”He says that shortage of ammunition has actually led to an increase in business, sometimes leading to crowds of customers.”We usually have a line of customers Friday morning when it arrives,” said WaylandHe couldn’t provide specific numbers for background checks processed at Black Rifle, but he says most people are approved pretty easily with denials happening rarely.Missouri ranks 11th in states with the most background checks processed since 1998 with 3.9 million, just behind Georgia and North Carolina. Kentucky and Texas lead the list with 15.6 and 12.1 million checks respectively. FBI stats say last month almost 9,000 people were turned down while trying to buy a gun.
