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Posted on 10/16/2001 2:28:54 PM PDT by TLBSHOW

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -

Floridians motivated by anxiety in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are buying guns or getting re-familiar with the ones they have.

Sales at the Tactical Edge gun shop and range in West Palm Beach have more than doubled since the attacks and the once-a-month training classes that used attract a handful of people are now scheduled twice weekly and fill up at 20 per class, said owner Timothy Fox.

"Not that buying a gun is going to stop a terrorist attack, but people are feeling vulnerable," Fox said. "They're not going to stop anthrax or bombs or airplanes, but their personal safety is feeling a little more secure than it was the day before."

He said people in his area may particularly feel the need for security because most of the terrorists involved in the attacks in New York and Washington trained nearby for the suicide mission.

"People, from what we're hearing, they're a little taking aback that here in South Florida, that's where the people making preparations of this dastardly crime were living," he said.

The state Division of Licensing has seen a threefold increase in gun permit application requests in September over the same month last year, a jump from 5,280 to 15,515.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reports that background checks for gun sales have shot up since the attacks. In the eight days before the attacks, the FDLE performed 4,519 checks. In the first six days after the attack, 6,773 checks were performed.

Florida does not require a permit to own a gun, but does require an FDLE background check to purchase one. The state also requires a permit to carry a concealed gun.

Republican state Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite said she has carried a Colt .38 revolver in her glove compartment for some time while making the 200 mile drive from her home in Brooksville to Tallahassee. Since the attacks, she has applied for a concealed weapons permit to carry the gun when she's not driving.

She said it is something she had planned to do for months, but always put off.

"I am concerned about security, of course I am," she said. "I cannot say it was the attacks on Sept. 11 that made me do it, I just said 'I really should proceed with this.'"

So have many others since the attacks.

"There may have been a large number of people like me who have always had a weapon and who postponed going for the carry permit," Brown-Waite said. "I hadn't shot the gun for a real long time, so I'm one of those people who bought more ammunition."

Gun stores are noticing a big difference in sales.

"It's been an incredible jump," said Danny Dixon, manager of Discount Guns in Tampa. "I have a lot of new people buying pistols for protection at home. I have a lot of people who have been gun buyers who are stepping up to assault rifles."

Sales are so brisk he said he's had trouble keeping weapons in stock or having them available to customers after their three-day waiting period. Ammunition is also flying out the door.

"We went from selling it by the box to selling it by the case," Dixon said. "It's a shame that a tragedy like this has come to great business for a gun shop."

Rob Walker, manager of the Gun Gallery in Jacksonville, said sales have increase 300 to 500 percent since the attacks over the same period last year.

"It's not the way we wanted to do business, but we will take it any way it comes," he said. "I find it somewhat amusing. It isn't like we are going to get invaded ... Maybe they are worried about the people that are here."

And Fox said his gun shop is seeing a surprising number of first-time buyers.

"People who were against guns or afraid of guns or were against keeping firearms in their homes, those are the people coming in and they're thinking 'It's not so bad,'" he said.

National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer said her Tallahassee office has been receiving a lot of calls from people interested in buying a gun for the first time.

"I didn't sense that any of them were real thrilled about the fear they're feeling. They're not real excited about buying a gun, it's just something they feel they have to do," she said.

"I don't personally feel threatened, I feel caution. I think we need to be more aware of where we travel and what we do, but of course I already have my gun."

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