Whether you buy into the reasoning in this story or not, the "Salesman of the Year" gimmick is classic.
Also I was pleased to see the story identified weapons such as AKs as semi-automatic and stated that they are rarely used in crimes.
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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09117/965814-84.stmGun sales at record levels
Dealers say fear of government controls causing buying spree of record level
Monday, April 27, 2009
By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pam Panchak / Post-Gazette
Assistant manager Keith Swart works behind the counter at Ace Sporting Goods.
On the gun counter at Ace Sporting Goods in Washington County, customers are greeted with a picture of President Barack Obama next to the caption, "Salesman of the Year."
The "Salesman of the Month" honor goes to Gov. Ed Rendell, whose picture is next to the president's.
"Obviously it's a little bit of humor," said owner George Romanoff. "But any time our politicians start discussing gun control, it has the adverse effect of what they intended. It's true across the country."
The Obama-as-top-salesman image isn't unique to Ace. Similar pictures are on any number of pro-gun Web sites. The publisher of The Outdoor Wire, an online publication for the outdoors industry, even credited Mr. Obama with sparing the gun industry the same kind of slump that has decimated the automakers.
Sales of guns and ammunition are surging nationwide, largely because gun enthusiasts and first-time buyers are afraid the president is going to push for gun control.
The increase has reached record levels in recent months.
More than 4.2 million firearms background checks were performed from November 2008 through this January, according to the FBI, an increase of more than 31 percent above the 3.2 million checks from the same period a year earlier.
"I've been in this business for 33 years," said Mr. Romanoff, "and there's never been this demand."
As for Mr. Rendell, he recently joined Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in urging Congress to renew an assault weapons ban and asked the state Legislature to pass a lost-and-stolen-gun reporting law and allow local firearms regulation.
Moves like those fuel a simple mentality: Stockpile while you can.
Carl Casato of South Park, a collector of old Colt firearms who was shopping recently at Anthony Arms in West Mifflin, said he travels to gun shops across the region each month. Everywhere he hears the same comment: Restrictions are coming.
"I'm not worried about it, but I know everyone else is," said Mr. Casato, 66. "Any time you have the Democrats take over, [gun advocates] feel they're going to infringe on gun rights."
The National Rifle Association's Web site pulls no punches, calling the president "Gunbanobama" and stating ominously, "You can't trust Obama with your guns."
The White House disputes that stance.
"The president believes the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms," an official said in an e-mailed statement. "His administration is committed to protecting the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns while stopping firearms traffickers and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and others prohibited from owning them."
But it's safe to say that many gun owners don't trust the president. The surge in sales actually began during the election, when then-candidate Obama emerged as the front-runner. It intensified after he won.
Many of those buyers are first-time gun owners.
Anthony Arms in West Mifflin, which has a shooting range in the basement, used to hold a National Rifle Association safety class each month for purchasers of new firearms. Now it runs two a month.
"We've doubled up on them. Women mostly," said part-owner Bill McCall.
Many of Anthony Arms' customers are worried about home invasions, he said. But others are clearly concerned about the political climate.
"I always ask them why they're buying guns," said Mr. McCall. "They say they're afraid they're going to be banned and then they won't be able to get them."
Some people are apparently hoarding ammo for the same reason, gun dealers say, possibly contributing to a shortage already triggered in part by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Other accessories also are going fast.
"High-capacity magazines are a big seller. People are buying just about everything, to tell you the truth," said Phil Dacey, a former Pittsburgh police lieutenant and a gun dealer who runs the Pennsylvania Gun Collectors Association. "I think they think it's going to get harder to buy."
Of particular interest to many gun enthusiasts is the fate of assault weapons, such as the AK-47.
Those semiautomatic weapons account for a tiny percentage of guns used in crimes. But they tend to generate a lot of media interest when they do surface, as was the case when police said Richard Poplawski used one to kill three Pittsburgh police officers in Stanton Heights on April 4.
Mr. Poplawski's friends said he feared that Mr. Obama would take his guns.
Mr. Dacey said the AK-47 and similar weapons have always been in demand, but pointed out that many shooters who buy one never even fire it. They consider it more of an investment, a cool thing to own.
"They see it on TV; it's the cutting edge," he said.
But the ban on those types of guns from 1994 to 2004 is a touchy topic for the gun crowd. For one thing, it was a partial ban, since it covered only new guns and magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Older weapons still could be bought and sold. What's more, defining "assault weapon" proved controversial, since the firing mechanism is the same as that of a hunting rifle.
Some gun makers made stylistic changes to their guns to make them legal under the ban. One example was a rifle called the PCR, made by Olympic Arms of Olympia, Wash. PCR stood for "Politically Correct Rifle," which was a copy of an AR-15 with a few cosmetic changes, such as removal of the bayonet lug.
Gun-control advocates said the company did that to "skirt" the law; the firm said it merely was trying to conform to the law.
Either way, renewing the ban would generate similar battles.
Although the National Rifle Association says the ban did nothing to curtail crime, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said the administration favors a renewal, as does Mr. Rendell.
"These weapons have one purpose," the governor said recently on CNBC. "They're to kill and to maim, and they shouldn't be in the hands of anyone else but the police and the military."
It's that kind of statement that earned him the "Salesman of the Month" tag at Ace Sporting Goods.
Those who oppose gun control of any kind say there already are enough gun laws and look at such measures as the beginning of a ban on all guns -- or even confiscation of their weapons.
That's the prevailing view at Anthony Arms.
"It's a slippery slope," said Mr. McCall.
Torsten Ove can be reached at tove@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1510.
First published on April 27, 2009 at 12:00 am
