Impending National Ban Triggers Run on Firearms : Gun control: Fear that Congress will cut off access to semiautomatic assault weapons prompts buying regionwide.
Gary Creagle never thought he would see more buyers in his Fillmore gun shop than he had the weekend after the Los Angeles riots.
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Then last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its ban on semiautomatic assault weapons--setting off a run on guns from Simi Valley to Oxnard.
“Incredible,” said Creagle, owner of Up in Arms. “I’ve got twice the volume of post-riots.”
His usual Saturday crowd of 100 browsers swelled to 500 last weekend and, he said, “they were all buyers.”
Concerned that Congress will cut off any access to rapid-fire weapons, sportsmen, gun collectors and ordinary buyers from across the region are stocking up on guns and rifles.
“The best salesmen we have are Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Janet Reno,” said Tony Montemorra, owner of Sportsmen’s Exchange in Oxnard. “People have cleaned us out of certain models of guns on that list, and you just can’t get them any more from the wholesalers.”
One gun store in Simi Valley has three salesmen on the phone all day looking for the guns and ammunition magazines in what is quickly becoming a speculative market.
When they do find the hardware, chances are the prices have jumped as quickly as the sales.
An MAK-90 military-style rifle that once sold for $367 now goes for at least $600 at one local store. A Springfield M1A .308-caliber rifle that used to retail for $1,200 now costs store owners as much as $1,800, pushing the retail price even higher.
Ammunition magazines for the high-capacity guns are also commanding higher prices as supplies grow shorter.
“Manufacturers’ prices are going up,” said Steve Cotter of Hilldale Discount Gun Sales Inc. in Simi Valley. “All of a sudden they’re going to have to cover overhead with about half the products.”
The bill approved by the slimmest of margins a week ago would ban the manufacture, sale and possession of combat-style assault weapons and magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
A similar measure has already passed the Senate, and members from both houses are expected to send a compromise measure to the White House soon.
The impending ban has touched off a rush nationwide, with sales doubling on the West Coast and tripling in the Midwest, said Bob Lesmeister, director of the National Assn. of Federal Licensed Firearm Dealers, which represents 30,000 gun store owners nationwide.
“Most of the guns on the list were already in short supply,” Lesmeister said. “I think as the shortage gets worse, the demand gets great as it gets closer to becoming law.”
Complicating matters, gun merchants do not know how many weapons could be affected. The House bill specifically names 19 kinds of semiautomatic handguns and rifles, many of them already banned from sale in California.
The bill also prohibits the sale and manufacture of weapons with certain “assault-style” features, such as bayonet mounts, pistol grips and flash suppressors.
“That 19 could turn into 219,” said Michael Pinner, manager of Battlefield Adventure in Ventura. “Or it could be nine,” if manufacturers modify their products.
The buyers are not quibbling.
One customer at Pinner’s store dropped $900 on ammunition and magazines at lunchtime Thursday, trying to beat the spiraling prices and the impending ban.
“The prices are going up at an incredible rate,” said the buyer, who declined to give his name for fear he would offend some business people he deals with. A hunter and a collector, he offered no apologies for his love of guns.
“They can protect you, they can feed you, and they’re a good investment,” he said
As he spoke, the phone rang behind Pinner’s counter. It was a salesman offering to sell him some of the 4,000 MAK-90 rifles on hand.
Pinner checked his display and found only two of the wood-handled guns left. He asked for the price. The salesman wanted $400, up from the usual $200 to $240 Pinner pays for the rifle.
“I’m not going to play this game,” Pinner told the salesman.
“We’re talking about dealing almost in a commodities market,” Pinner said after hanging up the phone. “You don’t know where the prices are going.”
For Pinner, the rush began last November, after Congress passed the Brady Bill. Even though the measure was less strict than existing California law, it signaled that the federal government was serious about gun control.
“All hell broke loose in this industry,” Pinner said. “Anything that had to do with firearms became extinct.”
While many stores are raising their prices to meet the higher demands, Creagle in Fillmore has a different strategy. He will sell his current stock until he runs out of guns.
“I know I’m probably going to be out of business in two years,” he said. “And then you know what you’re going to have: a black market that will make the sale of drugs look like a picnic.”
Staff writers Jeannette Regalado and Tina Daunt contributed to this story.
