Fear is driving a run on gun shops

Panic that a Barack Obama administration will bring an assault on the Second Amendment right to gun ownership has led to a dramatic increase in sales of assault rifles and handguns.

The trend has wholesalers unable to keep up with demand, lines out the door at gun dealers and firearms safety specialists concerned about an increase in accidental shootings.

"Everybody is afraid the assault weapon ban is going to go back in place," said John Hotchkiss, owner of Colorado Springs-based Red Bear Gun Brokers, which sells guns mostly via the Internet.

The Clinton administration imposed a ban on several types of military-style semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines in 1994. That ban expired in 2004. Obama has proposed restoring the ban, requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows and other measures. But the president-elect's transition team said Sunday that with the economy in need of repair, gun policy is not a high priority, The Associated Press reported.

Still, Hotchkiss' suppliers and other gun dealers in Colorado and other states are reportedly having difficulty keeping up with demand.

"A law-abiding citizen who has a clean record? I think they might lose their right to bear arms," said Reginald Perry, a retired soldier buying his first handgun Tuesday.

Perry will be using his gun to protect himself and his family, but down the road he says he'd like to enter competitions.

"I would rather give up this rush on guns and have a better person as president," said Paul Paradis, a Republican, National Rifle Association member and owner of Paradise Sales, a gun shop on West Colorado Avenue that has seen a 400 percent increase in sales in the past month.

Beyond the politics, Paradis is concerned the "panic buys" are fueling profiteering and a ballooning of sales to the untrained.

"Common sense isn't common," he said. "If people don't understand things, they can't do them correctly."

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is also seeing unprecedented numbers of background check requests for concealed carry permits, said spokesman Lance Clem.

Saturday, CBI processed 1,831 permit applications, shattering the agency's record set the previous Saturday of 1,438 applications. What used to take less than five minutes through the Internet or phone now takes up to three hours.

CBI will easily surpass the 180,000 applications it projected to process this year, far more than the record 161,000 set in 2006, Clem said.

"People should be aware that they will probably want to do something else while the background check is being completed because it is going to take time," he said.

To Paradis, the fear driving the flood in gun sales is unwarranted.

"I think we'll see some relatively modest changes in the law," Paradis said. "If the new administration comes after firearms in some kind of big way then they're going to be voted out of office just like they were with the assault weapons ban."

Hotchkiss cites the millions of NRA members who would fight drastic changes to gun laws.

"It a pretty large group of people that all say no in one voice," he said.