As You Predicted, Everyone Is Spending This Week Gun Shopping

Like a lot of Americans, I’ve been spending this week not only weeping at my desk for those 20 children and six adults who were shot in Newtown, but also nervously awaiting the inevitable “everyone is buying guns” report. Well, it’s official. The mass gun shopping has commenced.

The Associated Press reports that while some “anxious parents” are stocking up on bullet-proof backpacks for kids, gun stores across this great country of ours are seeing “record sales”:

A spike in gun sales is common after a mass shooting, but the Connecticut tragedy has generated record sales in many states. Colorado set a single-day record for gun background check requests the day after the Connecticut mass shootings, and some online retailers are removing assault rifles from websites in part because of diminishing supplies.

Nevada saw more requests for background checks in the days after the shooting than any other weekend this year.

While some Americans are purchasing guns with the intent of protecting themselves from violent incidents, others are simply stocking up on assault weapons in anticipation of that assault weapons ban that is expected to hit Congress after the new year. But not all gun sellers are looking to make a quick profit off of fear:

Robert Akers, a Rapid City, S.D., gun seller specializing in assault-style rifles, said he has about 50 of the weapons in stock but he’s not actively trying to sell them and has even turned off his phone.

“It’s a madhouse,” said Akers, owner of Rapid Fire Firearms. “Any time they have one of these shootings or an election, it gets that way. I don’t even want to sell them right now because I won’t be able to replace them for probably six months. … The price is only going to go up higher.”

Despite beefed up security outside schools and police officers taking copy cat threats seriously, this week suddenly doesn’t particularly feel like a safe one.

(photo: Photoexpert / Shutterstock)