The Traveler

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Meghan Walton Guns sales are up about a third of what they typically are this time of year, a local gun shop owner said.

November is a busy time of year for Phil Ezell, owner of Ozark Sportsman Supply in Tontitown. As a gun shop owner, the beginning of hunting season is a time of increased business, Ezell said. Still, this year sales are up by about a third of what they normally would be, he said. It's pretty simple to understand why, Ezell said.

"Obama is the most anti-gun person who's ever been near the White House," Ezell said. "Check his record in Illinois. He voted for gun restrictions in virtually every case."

Ezell is not the only one who thinks so, apparently. Despite economic troubles, gun sales rose 9 percent between January and September this year, according to FBI statistics.

Steve Sturm, owner of Sturm's Indoor Gun Range in Springdale, has also seen an increase in sales since the election, he said.

"There are distributors I know who have hardly anything left in their stores," Sturm said.

The 2008 Arkansas Poll showed an eight-point decrease in the number of people who thought gun control laws should be stricter, while those who thought there should be no changes in the law increased.

This surprised the pollsters considering the fact that the same year Bill Gwatney, chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, was shot by a lone gunman in a high profile case of gun violence, said Janine Parry, professor of political science at the UA.

"This was not the shift in opinion that we expected," Parry said.

What they did not consider at the time was that respondents were hoping for no changes in gun laws in anticipation of a coming Democratic administration, Parry said.

There was also an increase in gun sales in 1992 when Bill Clinton won the presidential election, and another increase occurred in 1993, said Gary Kleck, a professor of sociology at Florida State University who has researched the topic. After 1993, gun sales steadily declined until 2001, Kleck said.

Higher gun sales do not lead to higher crime, but higher crime may lead to more gun sales, Kleck said.

People who feel threatened by violent crime are more likely to buy handguns, but most of those who buy handguns will not be criminals as a result of background checks, Kleck said.

Continued...

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