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Anxiety drives increased Florida gun purchases
By ANDREW LYONS
Staff Writer
Last updated: Jan 22, 08:12 PM
Bob Wood owns guns, shoots twice a month and is teaching his 5-year-old grandson to fire.
But he worries about other gun owners taking up arms as the dust settles from a tragic event.
One month after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, about 40,000 people asked the Florida Department of State for an application for a concealed weapons permit, roughly 20 times the norm. And local gun-shop owners say interest spiked last fall surrounding the type of rifle used in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks.
Wood, 62, of Daytona Beach, wonders who's teaching rookies how to handle and fire a gun safely.
"Incidents like the sniper attacks have caused people to look at self-defense, but that's a dangerous process," Wood said between firing rounds Wednesday at the Strickland Shooting Range off Clyde Morris Boulevard near Daytona Beach. "You don't point a weapon at anybody else unless you're prepared to kill, and I don't think people are prepared to do that."
Gun ownership is still alive and strong in this country. Concealed weapons permits have routinely risen in Florida, while total applications for firearm transfers or permits increased 3 percent from 7.7 million in 2000 to 8 million in 2001, according to the FBI's most recent national statistics.
In addition, the National Rifle Association has a record-high number of members at 4 million, thanks in part to a president who looks more favorably at owning firearms.
"We have an administration that believes in protecting the Second Amendment and the laws of law-abiding gun owners," said NRA spokeswoman Kelly Whitley.
But some gun owners fear the general public is too easily motivated to take up a potentially dangerous pursuit.
After Sept. 11, workers at the Department of State's division of licensing were baffled as tens of thousands of people asked about getting a special permit to carry a concealed handgun.
"It provided people a sense of security even though (a permit) couldn't protect them from such a catastrophic event," said Ken Wilkinson, the division's operations and management consultant.
FBI statistics show the number of background checks for gun sales rose nearly 11 percent higher in September 2001 compared to the same month in 2000. In October, the figure jumped again to nearly 22 percent more than the year before.
And in a survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation about 10 days after the terror attacks, about 15 percent of gun retailers reported sales increases of more than 25 percent. The majority of the sales were in New York, Washington and Florida, where some of the terrorists lived.
The climate in the Washington, D.C., area was no different during the sniper attacks. A New York Post report had officials reporting up to a 500 percent increase in applications for concealed-weapons permits, and gun sales were up nearly as much.
More than 800 miles away, inside a DeLand gun shop, people began asking about AR-15-type rifles, like the Bushmaster used in the sniper attacks.
"Maybe it was a little morbid interest, just wondering what it took to do this," said Wade Love, co-owner of Love's Gun and Pawn.
At Buck's Gun Rack in Daytona Beach, sales of the AR-15 were up 15 percent around the time of the attacks. Shop owner Forrest Buckwald recalled a similar fascination in 1971 surrounding Clint Eastwood's sidearm. Following the release of "Dirty Harry," people were interested in the .44 Magnum.
"You're buying a little bit of the romance, being a bit of an armchair adventurer when you fire one of these," he said, surrounded by AR-15 rifles in his shop one recent morning. "But 99.9 percent of people enjoy it as an interesting piece of machinery."
Still, Bill McCarthy worries about gun owners who are ignorant about the weapon they just bought.
After Sept. 11, the Strickland Shooting Range where McCarthy works was a zoo. Experienced marksmen preparing for hunting season were mixed with unseasoned, unskilled gun owners, not completely sure how to use their shiny new weapon.
"I didn't have time to help the new shooters," McCarthy said.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/areaA3012303.htm
By ANDREW LYONS
Staff Writer
Last updated: Jan 22, 08:12 PM
Bob Wood owns guns, shoots twice a month and is teaching his 5-year-old grandson to fire.
But he worries about other gun owners taking up arms as the dust settles from a tragic event.
One month after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, about 40,000 people asked the Florida Department of State for an application for a concealed weapons permit, roughly 20 times the norm. And local gun-shop owners say interest spiked last fall surrounding the type of rifle used in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks.
Wood, 62, of Daytona Beach, wonders who's teaching rookies how to handle and fire a gun safely.
"Incidents like the sniper attacks have caused people to look at self-defense, but that's a dangerous process," Wood said between firing rounds Wednesday at the Strickland Shooting Range off Clyde Morris Boulevard near Daytona Beach. "You don't point a weapon at anybody else unless you're prepared to kill, and I don't think people are prepared to do that."
Gun ownership is still alive and strong in this country. Concealed weapons permits have routinely risen in Florida, while total applications for firearm transfers or permits increased 3 percent from 7.7 million in 2000 to 8 million in 2001, according to the FBI's most recent national statistics.
In addition, the National Rifle Association has a record-high number of members at 4 million, thanks in part to a president who looks more favorably at owning firearms.
"We have an administration that believes in protecting the Second Amendment and the laws of law-abiding gun owners," said NRA spokeswoman Kelly Whitley.
But some gun owners fear the general public is too easily motivated to take up a potentially dangerous pursuit.
After Sept. 11, workers at the Department of State's division of licensing were baffled as tens of thousands of people asked about getting a special permit to carry a concealed handgun.
"It provided people a sense of security even though (a permit) couldn't protect them from such a catastrophic event," said Ken Wilkinson, the division's operations and management consultant.
FBI statistics show the number of background checks for gun sales rose nearly 11 percent higher in September 2001 compared to the same month in 2000. In October, the figure jumped again to nearly 22 percent more than the year before.
And in a survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation about 10 days after the terror attacks, about 15 percent of gun retailers reported sales increases of more than 25 percent. The majority of the sales were in New York, Washington and Florida, where some of the terrorists lived.
The climate in the Washington, D.C., area was no different during the sniper attacks. A New York Post report had officials reporting up to a 500 percent increase in applications for concealed-weapons permits, and gun sales were up nearly as much.
More than 800 miles away, inside a DeLand gun shop, people began asking about AR-15-type rifles, like the Bushmaster used in the sniper attacks.
"Maybe it was a little morbid interest, just wondering what it took to do this," said Wade Love, co-owner of Love's Gun and Pawn.
At Buck's Gun Rack in Daytona Beach, sales of the AR-15 were up 15 percent around the time of the attacks. Shop owner Forrest Buckwald recalled a similar fascination in 1971 surrounding Clint Eastwood's sidearm. Following the release of "Dirty Harry," people were interested in the .44 Magnum.
"You're buying a little bit of the romance, being a bit of an armchair adventurer when you fire one of these," he said, surrounded by AR-15 rifles in his shop one recent morning. "But 99.9 percent of people enjoy it as an interesting piece of machinery."
Still, Bill McCarthy worries about gun owners who are ignorant about the weapon they just bought.
After Sept. 11, the Strickland Shooting Range where McCarthy works was a zoo. Experienced marksmen preparing for hunting season were mixed with unseasoned, unskilled gun owners, not completely sure how to use their shiny new weapon.
"I didn't have time to help the new shooters," McCarthy said.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/areaA3012303.htm
