Calls to Ban Assault Weapons Spur Sales of Guns in County

In the wake of calls for state and federal legislation to outlaw AK-47s and other semiautomatic weapons and a ban on them recently imposed in Los Angeles, people are buying the guns faster than ever, Orange County gun store owners said Friday.

Store owners said that the buying frenzy has taken them by surprise and that supplies cannot keep up with demand. Many said Friday that

distributors are also running low on the weapons since a gunman sprayed a Stockton schoolyard with bullets from an AK-47 last month.

“It’s hard to keep them in stock,” said Jim Moore of the Stockade in Westminster. “They used to just sit around and collect dust.”

Some gun store employees said the jump in sales began right after Patrick Edward Purdy, a drifter in his mid-20s, killed five children and injured 30 others at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton on Jan. 17. The incident was followed almost immediately by calls to ban, or at least require registration, of AK-47s like the one Purdy used

and all other semiautomatic weapons, which are readily available throughout the nation.

Most store owners and managers interviewed Friday could not give exact figures on the increased numbers of semiautomatic weapons sold since last month. One owner declined to give specific numbers but said sales have jumped “astronomically.”

“A lot of people saw this (ban proposals) coming,” said Darlene Nancy, owner of Buena Park Gun Room. “We are getting about 100 calls a week. Before we only got about one call” a week about the semiautomatic rifles.

The dramatic rise in sales was given a boost, store owners said, after the city of Los Angeles passed a sweeping emergency ordinance Tuesday banning not only the sale but also the possession of semiautomatic weapons such as the AK-47, AR-15 and the Uzi submachine gun. Owners have 15 days to either give them to police or make them inoperable.

Nancy said she expects people to come from Los Angeles to buy semiautomatic weapons at her store.

“For the public that’s concerned about getting rid of these weapons, it (the ban) has done more harm than good,” said Matt Weinspein, assistant manager at Straight Shooter in Orange. “We didn’t sell many of them before, but we’re selling a lot more now.”

Some new buyers include collectors who believe that these guns will soon be scarce, store owners said. Others, however, may be stocking up to take advantage of an expected wide-ranging ban, according to Albert Spinelli, owner of Unique Sporting and Strategic Game Supply in Anaheim.

“Some people are out there buying them to start an underground (black market trade). It’s just common sense,” Spinelli said. “They have made these guns so popular that everyone and his mother wants one.”

Gun owners contend that the Los Angeles ordinance is unconstitutional. Further, they say, it will take the weapons away only from those who use them safely. Owners also worry that gun control organizations are using the issue as a steppingstone to win across-the-board gun control legislation, Weinspein said.

“It’s going to be just like Prohibition,” Weinspein said. “These guns are going to continue to be out there. I just think they are blowing this whole thing out of proportion.”

Store owners said those who use the semiautomatic weapons do so mostly for marksmanship competitions or hunting animals.

But Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, legislators and others have declared that sales of semiautomatic assault weapons must be banned to keep the guns out of the hands of gangs and drug dealers.

Even if bans are not enacted in Orange County or throughout the state, some buyers are expecting that at least registration and a waiting period will be imposed, such as the 15-day period required for all purchasers of handguns. The law requires that waiting period for checks on whether a person has had any prior arrests or convictions. There is no such requirement for buying a semiautomatic rifle.

U.S. Senators hear Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates assail assault rifles. Part I, Page 1.