Tammy Wilson still has handguns for sale. But lately she’s had trouble keeping them in stock.

“Handguns are crazy right now,” said Wilson, manager of Express Huntin’ N Fishin’, a sportsman’s supply store in Sebastian. “A lot of them are on back order.”

The owners of many Treasure Coast gun and pawn shops say they’ve also seen a jump in gun sales, fueled by fears the new presidential administration will impose new regulations on gun ownership.

The economy is also a factor, as homeowners arm themselves against a perceived spike in home break-ins tied to the rising unemployment rate.

Vero Lake Estates resident Kenneth Johnson and his girlfriend Christina Northrup are fearful because of a string of home break-ins in their neighborhood.

So on Thursday, he purchased a .32-caliber pistol for protection.

“It is getting ridiculous,” Johnson said. “I got nervous” about what might happen. The couple has a 15-year-old daughter a home.

Gun dealers statewide have reported increases since the November presidential election. Background checks for gun purchases in Florida more than doubled after the election, rising from 32,381 in September to 63,936 in November, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Those numbers were slightly down in January, falling to 49,072.

Nationally, the FBI reported completing more than 1.5 million background checks in November, a 41.6 percent increase over November 2007, when the agency performed just more than 1 million background checks. In January alone, there were 1.2 million requests for background checks.

President Obama believes the U.S. Constitution allows some restrictions on gun ownership, but he also has said he respects the right to bear arms as stated in the Second Amendment.

Many gun proponents fear a repeat of the Clinton Administration’s 1994 ban on several military-style, semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines. That was allowed to lapse 10 years later.

Before the election, President Obama had proposed restoring the ban and requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows, among other measures he has described as “common sense.”

Among the items that some fear will be banned are the military-style AR-15 assault rifle and other tactical weapons.

“When Obama passes the next ban, you’re not going to be able to get them for another couple of years,” said Lou Neckles, owner of Second Amendment Firearms in Port St. Lucie.

“These military weapons, once the ban goes through and they hold on to them, the price is going to triple. So they see it as an investment.”

As a result, many collectors have rushed to add to their collections before the laws of supply and demand send prices skyrocketing.

“They don’t want to risk it,” said Josh Verporter, whose family owns Self-Defense Guns and Archery in Stuart. “They say, ‘Why do I want to spend $10,000 down the road if I can spend $1,000 today?’”

Along with weapons, ammunition has been in short supply. In fact, demand for bullets has been so strong in some cases that suppliers are restricting deliveries.

There also has been a surge in handgun sales to homeowners who are worried about an increase in home invasion burglaries and other crimes in the slumping economy. A state legislative panel recently approved spending $3.8 million to help with the processing of a giant backlog of concealed weapons permit applications.

Neckles said his store has seen about a 30 percent increase in sales since November, many of them handguns.

“We have a lot of senior citizens coming in looking for just one gun they can handle with their spouse to protect their life,” he said.

– Lady Hereford

Tags: ammunition, burglary, firearm, guns, handgun, handguns, unemployment

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 10:08 am and is filed under Crime, Economy, Martin County, St. Lucie County, Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.