Possible Ban Ignites Rush on Area Gun Shops

Throughout Los Angeles, the rush is on as people flock to gun shops for what may be their last chance to purchase intimidating-looking weapons with high-tech names as well as high-capacity ammunition magazines for semiautomatic weapons.

After the House of Representatives passed a bill a week ago that would bar the manufacture, sale and possession of most semiautomatic weapons and any magazine holding more than 10 rounds, aficionados ranging from the serious gun collector to the average Joe have been hitting gun shops from the Westside to the High Desert.

“The guns on the lists have doubled (in sales),” said Laura Brunts, manager for Santa Fe Gun Galeria in Palmdale, where articles on gun control are copied and left on the counter, free for the taking. “We are selling four times as many magazines as we did before the ban.”

And prices are climbing.

At Santa Fe, 30-round AK-47 magazines are going for $35, up from $19.95 just last week, and prices on all semiautomatic handguns were raised $50 Wednesday morning. There was but one MAK-90 military-style rifle left in the store Wednesday, though 10 more will be shipped soon. When they arrive, Brunts said the price on them will jump $200, to $750.

The House version of the weapons ban, approved last week, is similar to one passed by the Senate in November. A conference committee must work out any differences between the two before the ban law is sent to President Clinton.

The ban outlaws 19 types of semiautomatic weapons, but in California most guns on the list already were illegal under a five-year-old state ban, except for the Intertech-9, MAK-90 and Colt Sporter--the civilian version of the M-16--and their copies.

Bob Lesmeister, director of the National Assn. of Federally Licensed Firearm Dealers--which represents 30,000 gun store owners nationwide--said sales on the West Coast have doubled, while Midwest gun shop owners are seeing their sales triple.

“Most of the guns on the list were already in short demand,” Lesmeister said. “I think as the shortage gets worse, the demand gets great, as it gets closer to becoming law.”

During lunch hour Wednesday, business was booming at Gun Heaven off Fairfax Avenue.

David M. Bell, a investment manager for a firm in Downtown Los Angeles, stopped in to purchase a semiautomatic pistol, a Colt Sporter rifle and a semiautomatic shotgun--all slated for banning under the federal law because of their large magazine capacities.

“I’m not a hothead,” said Bell, who shelled out about $7,000 for the guns. “I’m not a white supremacist. I don’t think we need to hoard guns for the oncoming apocalypse.

“But if my life is going to be challenged, I want to be able to defend myself. The criminals are still going to have guns.”

Even with the increasing prices, B & B Sales in North Hollywood, one of the largest gun outlets in the Los Angeles area, also was bustling. There, armed customers are asked to turn in their personal weapons before shopping and salespeople pack guns in hip holsters. On Wednesday, one salesman was highlighting in red the price tags of the guns that may soon be banned.

Gun merchants there, as elsewhere, defended their recent price hikes, saying it is simply a matter of supply and demand leading to higher wholesale prices, which in turn get passed on to the retail customer. Barry Kahn, owner of B & B Sales, said manufacturers had even raised the price of guns he had already ordered before the ban passed.

And rising price tags certainly did not stop Chris Encinas from purchasing his first gun at B & B Wednesday. In fact, it put pressure on him to buy before prices skyrocketed.

“I’m trying to rush it,” said the 25-year-old Van Nuys man as he stood at the glass counter, where 20 semiautomatic handguns were displayed. “If we didn’t have the ban I wouldn’t have to, but it’s better that I buy it today.”

As the salesman placed the gun on the glass counter and Encinas ran his fingers over his $510 choice--a Glock 40-caliber semiautomatic handgun with a 15-round magazine--he said, “I can’t wait to get it home.”

The gun itself would remain legal under the ban, but the high-capacity magazine would not.

Turner’s in Reseda is among the stores that has not yet raised its prices, according to store manager Terry Barnes. Nonetheless, he said he has been offered as much as three times the retail price of some models that he does not even stock.

“People are willing to pay whatever,” Barnes said.

Many gun shop owners contacted blamed the press for the ban, and refused to talk to reporters.

“The media fuels everything,” said Lee Montoya, special project director for Turner’s Outdoorsman, a chain of hunting and fishing stores in Southern California, one of which is in Reseda. “For people who were on the fence about buying a gun, this probably decided it for them.”

Anger over the ban also was expressed by many customers.

“It sucks,” said Jerry McCain, a Mojave resident who said that he wished he had the money to buy a semiautomatic gun before they become illegal. “This whole notion of banning them to keep them away from outlaws, it ain’t going to work.”

Evidence of the gun-buying frenzy has yet to reach the state level, said Mike Broderick of the State Department of Justice. The last available gun registration figures were from April, he said, and would not reflect the recent buying binge.

“We won’t know anything for a number of days,” said Broderick, whose office normally processes 60,000, 15-day waiting period applications daily.

But in many gun shops, empty display cases make it evident that the rush is on. Shop owners recalled that a similar increase in business occurred last year when Congress passed the Brady law, which required a 15-day waiting period for handgun buyers.

A second burst of sales occurred when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced the ban on assault-style weapons late last year, they said.

At American Arms International in Glendale salesman Nick Sepian said he sold 10 guns daily before the ban, and now sells 25 on most days.

“Nobody knows exactly what is going to be banned,” Sepian said. “But we are selling anything that has high capacity and looks intimidating.”

Times staff writer Julio Moran and special correspondent Sharon Moeser also contributed to this story.