Gun sales rise amid fear of stricter gun control laws
By: CBS News
Updated: August 17, 2012
Los Angeles mother Michelle Schy is among a growing number of Americans arming themselves out of fear. Schy said the shootings in Aurora, Colo., Virginia Tech, and Columbine prompted her to take the classes. The after-school activities for her two teens involve taking gun classes, knife training, combat and self-defense.
Gun sale background checks spike after AuroraAlso driving those sales is the fear of stricter gun control laws under a second Obama administration. Nolan Avery, manager of the LAX gun range said he hasn't seen this type of spike during other presidential elections and believes it's specific to President Barack Obama.
The Los Angeles range makes its own ammunition and supplies, but says it can't keep up with the demand. Nationally, one major gun manufacturer has stopped taking any new orders because they can't keep up with the old ones.
The FBI tracks background checks on gun owners. Their numbers project three million more guns could sold by the end of this year.
"The fact that in the last month or so that they've even spiked higher, actually even surprises me," said Alan Gottlieb, of the Second Amendment Foundation, a Washington State-based non-profit firearms activism group. "Because they've been so high. It's hard to get a spike when you're already at a record sales number."
The numbers are high because moms like Schy say they have no choice. "I'm not going to let them go to a movie theater and be slaughtered."
