Posted on 03/13/2009 9:51:15 AM PDT by AreaMan
3/13/2009 11:16:57 AM 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 2008 over February 2009. "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
Copyright © 2009, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved
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I consider this good news... the more guns and ammo the general public has when they try to take them away, the better.
I may inadvertently buy guns and ammo soon, myself.
I recently inadvertently bought more ammo. ANd soon I plan to inadvertently buy more ammo.
This puts to rest the lie to predictions of " blood in the streets" that had been trotted out every time a state considered issuing ccw's.
It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for the Springfield, Missouri Gun Show at the fairgrounds March 21 and 22.
***Dong’s Guns and Ammo on East Admiral Place. ****
Man, I used to keep them in business every weekend when I lived in Tulsa! I will still visit there when I go to THE TULSA GUN SHOW, the big one, April 4 & 5, 2009!
That happened here in Missouri both before and after CC Permits were issued.
About 2 months or less after the first permits were issued a permit holder was walking his girl friend to her door. Two men with guns attempted to rob and ? the pair.
Shots were fired, the only casualty was a hole in a bed spread in a vacant spare bed room. Had anyone been it bed it would not have hit them, but the bed spread was wounded.
The MSM ran stories about it for days showing the window and bed spread. They claimed the bullet came from the gun of the CC Permit holder.
The fact that the intended victims were not harmed was barely mentioned.
The MSM was looking far and wide for "blood running in the streets".
It didn't happen!
I had my eye on a semi-auto pistol a few weeks ago and they have been out of stock for a couple of weeks.
I use Davidson's Gallery of Guns 'Gun Genie' pretty regularly to check out varying firearms on my wish list. Well now, every popular Shotgun, Rifle or Handgun; semi-auto or revolver almost all show "0 Available".
But one thing in the article is kind of surprising to me. The apparent run on .380 Auto's.
But the article IS spot on regrading ammo. It is becoming scarce. At Cheaper Than Dirt there's an awful lot of 'Out of Stock' in common calibers.
Some disagree with me,
but I assert that it is the GOOD GUYS that are buying this stuff up,
and I believe the left knows it, too.
It might make them reconsider any plans they have to make us do something we might not otherwise be able to resist.
Ruy Dias de Bivar wrote:
“***Dongs Guns and Ammo on East Admiral Place. ****
Man, I used to keep them in business every weekend when I lived in Tulsa!”
Yeah, I used to live in Tulsa years ago, and I used to patronize Dong’s, too. Nice people, lots of guns and ammo and reloading stuff. Can’t beat it.
Does anyone have an idea [i.e., industry information from speaking to dealers, gun store owners, etc.] when the backlog in guns and ammo will diminish?
I hear some ammo manufacturers may be catching up soon [Fioichi] and other may be backed up for months.
I wonder if supply will reach normal anytime soonyou know, when a gun store has multiple choices, competitively priced,
I like to shoot .41mag.
In Gander Mountain a week or so ago I was fortunate to find .41mag Remington ammo...
... for $79 a box of 50.
No. I didn’t buy any.
Firearms in .380 are generally more concealable than larger calibers.
And any gun is better than no gun, particularly one that you’ve practiced with...
Carried the Makarov in an ankle holster for almost 30 years as my back-up gun. Hardly anyone in law enforcement knew about it until about 5 years ago. Now, it seems everyone wants to try one out.
My wish list for a SHTF scenario
AR-10 (I prefer a .308 to a .223)
.50 BMG (Rifle)
.338 Win Mag (Rifle)
.44 Mag
Reloading machine
Bow&Arrow
“the more guns and ammo the general public has when they try to take them away, the better.”
Bingo!
I would love it if the distributors gave the red states priority status when selling to their customers.
With the same idea, if I finally decide to sell my Ruger Mini-14, since it’s a wanted item, I won’t sell to anyone who isn’t an NRA, SAF or SAS member.
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