Thread: Sales of guns, ammo still high

Sales of guns, ammo still high

One shop says the "hoarding" of ammunition since Obama's election has created a shortage.

By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer
Published: 3/13/2009 3:28 AM
Last Modified: 3/13/2009 12:59 PM

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Correction: This story originally reported the wrong years when comparing the number of permit applications. The cutline incorrectly identified the .40 and .45 caliber bullets. The story and cutline have been corrected.
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Related Story: Liberals told to leave: An instructor for a hunter safety course orders Obama voters to get out of his class.

Four months after the election of President Barack Obama, firearms and ammunition sales in Tulsa remain at a fever pitch.

Popular self-protection ammunition is often sold out at local stores, weapons are flying off shelves and the state reports an 87 percent increase in concealed carry permit applications for February 2009 over February 2008.

"People are hoarding. They're creating a shortage," Jim Prall at Sports World on 41st Street said of ammunition sales. "We've sold more ammunition in the last three months than we sold last year."

Gun sales spiked in November with the election of Barack Obama and Democrats adding to their majority in Congress. But local gun dealers say the spike is turning into a steady climb with political worries about gun rights as well as worries about the economy and potential for increased crime.

Prall said his store planned ahead for the increase, having seen a similar spike after Bill Clinton was elected, but the previous jump in sales pales in comparison to what's happening now.

"Most we're selling now we got back in September, but we bought pallets then where normally we wouldn't have ordered that much."

The surprise sales come with .380 caliber semi- automatic pistols. A relatively small self-protection weapon, it's not one that people typically fire in great quantity at the firing range, Prall said. Yet, the ammunition is now hard to find. "Nobody would have predicted that," he said.

"What's happened is everybody is afraid because the Democrats are anti-gun," said David Stone, president of Dong's Guns and Ammo on East Admiral Place.

Internet chatter about bills in Congress that would create additional taxes on firearms and ammunition components, require strict licensing and ban more types of so-called "assault weapons" add to the concern, Stone said. "That's just driving everyone into panic mode," he said. "We're selling 10 times the ammo we used to."

Similar bills have come up in Congress before, but few have advanced.

"We ran completely out here of 9 mm and .380," said Johny Mathews, product and service manager at the U.S. Shooting Sports Academy on East 66th Street North. "We were begging, borrowing and stealing from wherever."

Concealed-carry classes at the academy are booked through April. "We used to do 15-person classes, and now we do 24 because of the demand," he said.

Mathews believes that politics are partly to blame, but the economy also has people worried.

"It's 50/50, I think" he said. "When people lose jobs and get desperate, good people can sometimes do bad things. People hear more about home invasions, robberies, and they think it will only get worse. Then they're afraid they might lose their guns or ammo, so they stock up."

Sales are so intense that Stone has limited sales of .380 ammo to one box per customer at Dong's. He has .380-caliber handguns for sale, and likes to be able to sell ammunition to whoever buys a gun, he said.

A shipment of 10 Ruger .380 LCP handguns was sold in 24 hours this week — seven the first day, three the next. "Last week I had 28 boxes of .380, rationed to one per person, and it was gone in three days," Stone said.

Academy Sporting Goods stores also are low on .380 ammo. "The other day we got 16 boxes of .380 and a guy came in first thing and bought all 16," said Jon Ide, hunting and fishing sales associate at the 41st Street store. "A few people are doing all the buying, and it's the people who are trying to just get a box or two that can't find any."

The increased sales comes with an increase in Oklahomans seeking concealed-carry permits.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation pulled in additional help last month so it could process concealed-carry permit applications within the required 90 days, according to the supervisor of the self-defense licensing unit. Unit workers do not release their names.

The 87.2 percent increase for February 2009 over the same month last year was partially due to renewal applications for permits issued three and five years ago. But new applications have steadily risen in the past three years, and increased markedly since November, she said.

She couldn't share the monthly breakdown on numbers, but as an indication of the volume said the state issued a total of 18,510 permits in 2008. The bureau's annual reports show the state issued 16,426 permits in 2007 and 9,529 in 2006. There are 75,525 valid active concealed-carry permits in Oklahoma, she said.

Kelly Bostian 581-8357
kelly.bostian@tulsaworld.com

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article. ... uger442781

Liberals told to leave

An instructor for a hunter safety course orders Obama voters to get out of his class.

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 3/7/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 3/7/2009 3:06 AM

Thirteen-year-old Lane Dunkley just wanted to go hunting with his grandfather.

What he got was a lecture on politics.

Dunkley and his father, Daniel Reddy, who live in Tulsa, went to Broken Arrow on Tuesday night for a hunter safety course normally required to get an Oklahoma hunting license.

The class was a reward of sorts. Dunkley, who wants to go hunting with his grandfather, was told he could take the class only if he brought up his grades.

So he did — to a B-plus average.

But when father and son arrived at the lesson, the volunteer instructor, Kell Wolf, asked if any of the students voted for President Barack Obama.

Reddy, a transplanted Californian — and former Marine — raised his hand.

According to Reddy and others in the room, Wolf called Obama "the next thing to the Antichrist" and ordered Reddy and Dunkley from the room. When Reddy refused, Wolf said he would not teach "liberals" and would cancel the course if Reddy didn't leave.

So Reddy and Dunkley left, as did a few others.

Lance Meek, hunter education coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, said Wolf had been a volunteer instructor for "a long time, probably 15 years or more" and "from what we've heard and observed, had always done a great job. He worked with the kids really well."

But when Meek received a call Wednesday morning — from someone other than the Reddys — he said he had no choice.

"I got the call at 8:30, and by 9 o'clock (Wolf) was no longer a volunteer for us."

Contacted on Friday, Wolf had no comment on the matter. Meek said he talked briefly to Wolf on Wednesday, and that Wolf did not deny ordering Reddy from the class or offer an explanation.

Lane Dunkley said the situation made him angry.

"This was a big deal for me because my grandpa doesn't have a lot of time to hunt anymore," he said. "I rarely get to hang out with my grandfather.

"I thought I would never be able to get my license."

Stacy Reddy, Daniel Reddy's wife and Lane Dunkley's mother, said the family was surprised by how quickly the wildlife department acted.

"Lance Meek called and apologized up and down and wanted to know what they could do to make it right," she said.

"The only thing we really wanted was for my son to be able to take the hunter safety course, and there wasn't another one in the Tulsa area with an opening for the rest of 2009."

So Meek arranged for a private class

"They called and said they'd meet us any time, anywhere," said Daniel Reddy. "Their response has been exemplary. It has really restored my faith in government."

Meek and Stacy Reddy said it illustrates how difficult the ongoing changes in the federal government are for some Oklahomans.

"I realize a lot of people are unhappy right now," said Stacy Reddy, "but this was something my son worked his tail off to do."

Meek sounded grieved that a long-time volunteer with a spotless record seemed to have veered so suddenly off the tracks.

"It's a shame. What he did is definitely not all right with us," Meek said, "but his heart has been in the right place for a long, long time."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article. ... irte498540