Across the United States gun store owners and suppliers are recounting a sharp increase in the numbers of first-time gun owners. Authorities are also reporting soaring increases in the numbers of people applying for gun permits. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
EL CAJON (California) - THE rest of the US economy may be in the grip of a crippling recession but in the booming firearms industry, President Barack Obama is being toasted as unofficial salesman of the year.
Fearful that Mr Obama's administration is quietly planning to introduce tough new restrictions on gun ownership and worried that the recession will trigger a crime wave, Americans are scrambling to stock up on guns and ammunition.
Gun shops and shooting ranges across the country have reported a surge in gun sales in the 100 days since Mr Obama's election, a bonanza for the industry that has left manufacturers struggling to keep pace with demand.
Dennis Rohman, manager of the Project Y2000 firing range in El Cajon, Southern California, says the upsurge in sales is being fuelled over fears of the Obama administration and crime.
'People have a genuine fear that they're going to be regulated out of having a firearm,' Mr Rohman told AFP, comparing the upsurge in business to the boom that preceded fears over the Y2K bug ahead of the new millennium.
'You have a lot of the Clinton administration in the current administration, and a lot of those people enacted a lot of tough firearms controls. The joke is that President Obama should be given the salesman of the year award.'
Mr Rohman said his shop had seen a sharp increase in the numbers of first-time gun owners. "Generally when this economy goes down, this industry goes up. People are afraid of being victimised,' he said, adding that the increase in sales has left suppliers unable to meet demand.
Across the United States gun store owners and suppliers are recounting similar stories. Authorities are also reporting soaring increases in the numbers of people applying for gun permits.
According to FBI figures, the number of people undergoing background checks - a requirement for anyone buying a gun from a federally licensed dealer - spiked by 29.2 per cent in March compared to a year earlier.
Some individual states have reported huge increases in the numbers of gun permit applications; Georgia saw 121,219 applications in 2008, up 79.2 per cent from 67,640 a year earlier. Experts say that pro-gun lobby groups such as the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) have used 'scare tactics' to amplify fears over Mr Obama's plans for firearms control. -- AFP
