Gun Sales Shoot Up at Year’s End
Is it a fear of the millennium or just a rush to beat a barrage of anti-gun laws?
It made no difference at JR’s Range & Gun Room in Long Beach, where the year ended with a bigger bang than ever before.
“It’s been a madhouse around here,” said the shooting range’s owner, Steve Ditullio. “People have been lining up to play with their new toys: their guns. Some of them have never held a weapon before, and they don’t have any idea how to load it.”
The picture was being repeated at gun shops and shooting ranges across the state this week as gun sales--in decline for several years--ended 1999 with a sales spurt.
Statewide sales over the first 14 days of December nearly doubled the previous year’s--from 19,500 to 38,100.
Experts, who had seen a smaller but significant increase in such purchases since the year began, attributed them to fears about chaos that would result from computer crashes with the coming of the year 2000 and the desire to purchase assault-type weapons before state legislation restricting such sales takes effect today.
The new law bans the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons based on a generic description of the guns, and it prohibits the sale of semiautomatic weapons that hold more than 10 bullets. Owners of existing weapons fitting the definition must register them with law enforcement beginning today.
“We deal with upscale customers who already have guns, but they are here buying more,” said Ted Szajer, who owns L.A. Guns on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. “This time last year, we were virtually doing no business.”
The story was the same at Firepower Inc. in Monterey Park.
“People are not just purchasing guns, they are buying solar powered radios and water filters,” said Wayne Wong, who owns Firepower. “They are concerned about the New Year’s celebration, but these are people who also don’t like the government telling them what they can and can’t buy.”
The first indication of spiraling gun sales came last fall when state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer released statistics showing that sales of handguns and long guns--a category that covers shotguns and rifles, some of which are military-style assault weapons--rose almost 31% over the first six months of 1999, to 213,468 from 163,060 during the same period in 1998.
Subsequently, state Department of Justice officials found November gun sales jumped from 32,000 in 1998 to about 52,000 this year, or almost 63%.
“You have several new laws that restrict certain weapons . . . and you have some of the Y2K hype and hysteria that feeds gun purchases,” said Lockyer.
Gun dealers and magazines “have effectively marketed the issue,” he said. “They made sure that potential buyers know that deadlines are approaching. . . . People who thought about purchasing a weapon have been reminded regularly. That produces something of a spike.”
He said California has experienced similar spikes in sales, such as when other new laws were passed, in the wake of the Los Angeles riots, and even after the attempted assassination of President Reagan.
“The hope is over the long term we will be able to dry up the military-style weapons and junk guns [like Saturday night specials],” he said. “That doesn’t happen overnight.”
Luis Tolley, a state spokesman for Handgun Control, said the upswing in sales should not be interpreted as a sign that the public is becoming more fond of guns.
“We are at some of the lowest points in gun sales in the state,” he said. “More and more people are deciding that they don’t want to have guns in their homes. Part of the reason is that people are reading more and more about tragic incidents of kids getting hold of guns. Parent are deciding that they don’t want guns in their homes.”
The upturn is the state’s first since 1993--the year following the riots--when sales of all guns totaled 642,197. Despite the sharp increases, the 1999 total will probably be around 500,000, officials said.
Marty Langley, an analyst for Violence Policy Center, said gun manufacturers’ magazines have been whipping up fears.
Steve Helsley, a state spokesman for the National Rifle Assn., said the new laws, not millennium fears, were far more responsible for increased sales.
“The perception is there that if you don’t buy it now, you won’t be able to after the first of the year,” he said.
At LAX Firing Range in Inglewood, where a line of customers fired their weapons, there was talk of government restrictions but even more talk of the potential for an outbreak of violence in the first few weeks of the New Year.
“It is a concern,” said Jarrod Guilford, a 25-year-old Army reservist who arrived to practice shooting with his girlfriend and a longtime friend. “It seems if people have an excuse to riot, they will. That is my major concern.”
Knowing how to use a gun, he said, “gives me peace of mind. If something happens I can handle a situation.”
Reggie Johnson, a 29-year-old junior high school teacher, had similar worries. That is why he brought his brand new 12-gauge shotgun to the range to try out.
“I’m going to be safe at home this New Year’s Eve,” he said. “I don’t believe all the hype, but I’m going to be ready. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
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Annual Weapons Sales in California
When state officials add up 1999 sales of handguns and long guns (refiles and shotguns) in California later this month, they expect the total to be around 500,000, a sharp increase from recent years. A look at previous totals:
Source: California Department of Justice
