Gun sales flourish as buyers fear new restrictions

TAKING STOCK: Sandy Kane, owner of Kane’s Gun Shop in North Kingstown, says that President Obama’s re-election also helped spark gun sales. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD
TAKING STOCK: Sandy Kane, owner of Kane’s Gun Shop in North Kingstown, says that President Obama’s re-election also helped spark gun sales. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD

Gun dealers in Rhode Island and across much of the nation have been swamped by customers amid renewed public debate over the need for stricter gun-control laws following the massacre of 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school.
“I’d say business has quadrupled,” said Adam Dacko, who works at Foster Bear Arms gun shop, about the spike in sales since President Barack Obama’s televised push for gun control on Dec. 16. “We had customers at the door waiting for us to open up. Traffic was so heavy in the parking lot, we thought we might need a police detail.”
Many customers want a gun similar to the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle used in the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., said Dacko, who has been working at the firearms dealer in Foster for 11 years. “Some people are asking strictly for those because they know it’s going to get banned,” Dacko said. “The problem is we can’t restock. We sold what we had, and the manufacturers and distributors are sold out.”
The attack by 20-year-old Adam Lanza that took the lives of 20 6- and 7-year-olds and six Sandy Hook staff members (authorities say Lanza committed suicide at the scene) has escalated national debate over gun control to a fever pitch.
“It’s just a shame all of this came down because of one idiot who has to ruin it for the rest of us,” Dacko said.
Concerns over gun control were already on the front-burner, said Sandy Kane, who has owned Kane’s Gun Shop in North Kingstown for 34 years.
“Even before the tragedy in Connecticut, people were buying a lot of new guns of all types – hunting guns and target pistols,” Kane said. “Some of the manufacturers have been backed up. They’re producing to capacity and there’s a higher demand for firearms, especially after the election.”
President Barack Obama’s re-election in November nudged those interested in guns to go ahead and buy them, anticipating possible restrictions on firearms by Congress, Kane said.
“I haven’t been able to get the black rifles since the election,” said Kane. The “black rifles” of the style used in the Connecticut shooting are often used in gun-club competitions and for security by homeowners, he said.
“They’re not the most ideal thing for home protection. I usually recommend a shotgun,” said Kane. Rhode Island has a variety of checks and balances for the purchase of firearms, said Major Wilfred Hill, commanding officer for the R.I. Department of Public Safety.
All firearms sales in the state require a seven-day waiting period, he said.
The state has specific regulations for those who want to buy pistols and revolvers, Hill said.
“Initially, when they come in, the gun seller will ask for the Rhode Island handgun safety card,” Hill said. That’s from the R.I. Department of Environmental Management given for successful completion of the pistol and revolver safety courses.
“The shotguns and rifles are exempt from the safety course,” said Hill.
One of the guns used in the Connecticut shooting was a semiautomatic rifle, which the industry calls a modern sporting rifle. The same style of rifle was apparently used in a Dec. 24 shooting in Webster, N.Y., that killed two volunteer fire fighters, according to a Dec. 25 report in The New York Times.
“Right now, law enforcement is really outgunned,” said Hill. “We’re trying to keep the public safe and our officers safe.”
A legal loophole that has surfaced is when guns are sold, not by gun dealers, but by individuals at gun shows.
“The gun-show loophole is private sales, there’s no paperwork,” said Sandy Kane. “Rhode Island doesn’t have gun shows. It’s probably been about 12 years. It just wasn’t financially practical.”
Adam Dacko of Foster Bear Arms said, “Gun shows used to be held in the armories, but because of 9/11 and the terrorist concerns, it just isn’t being done in the state.”
Guns and ammunition are, however, widely sold across the Ocean State.
Rhode Island has 79 gun shops and pawn brokers with a federal firearms license, said Debora Seifert, spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Boston field office, which covers New England.
In addition, Rhode Island has 11 gun manufacturers, two importers and three manufacturers of ammunition who hold a federal firearms license, Seifert said.
Many organizations and state governments, including Rhode Island, are taking steps to address gun violence.
Rhode Island Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo announced in a Dec. 19 press release that she has directed Cliffwater, one of the state’s investment consultants, to review the pension fund’s alternative investment holdings for firearm and ammunition manufacturers and distributors. Cliffwater’s preliminary search found that the state invests with one private-equity firm, Wellspring, which has an equity stake in United Sporting Companies, a distributor of firearms, shooting accessories and hunting supplies. According to Wellspring, United Sporting Companies notified them that they would end their distribution of semi-automatic rifles as of Jan. 1.
“We’re not making any changes at this time, but we’ll be looking to hold them accountable for what they’ve pledged to do,” said Joy Fox, spokeswoman for Raimondo. “Early in the new year, the State Investment Commission will explore these issues further.”
Cerberus Capital Management, the New York private-equity firm that owns the for-profit Steward Health Care network of 11 hospitals in Massachusetts, announced on Dec. 18 that it had decided to sell its Freedom Group division, the manufacturer of the assault weapon used in the elementary-school killings in Newtown, Conn.
Some national retailers are also dealing with the impact of the Connecticut shooting.
According to a Dec. 20 report on the website of The Nation, “Wal-Mart removed the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle … just as The Nation published a report by Washington correspondent George Zornick on the company’s sale of the weapon in 1,700 stores nationwide.”
A Wal-Mart spokesman told Providence Business News the company does not sell guns in Rhode Island.
According to a Dec. 18 report on the website of the Wall Street Journal, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. has suspended sales of semiautomatic rifles at its 480 stores. A Dick’s spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on whether the company sells guns locally.
Since the shooting, John Francis, owner of Competition Shooting Supplies in Pawtucket since 1994, has noticed a change in customers at his gun shop.
“I’m seeing a lot of first-time buyers, a mixture of all ages, from all walks of life,” Francis said. “People are afraid the government is going to take away their right to defend themselves and their family as they choose to.” •

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