Gun Sales Surge After Florida School Shooting

A North Florida gun store owner says firearms sales surged more than 33% compared to February last year, indicating Floridians are concerned the erosion of the Second Amendment is imminent in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

“The last couple of weeks have been very busy,” John Garner, gun store owner told WYFF News 4. “Guns are political. It doesn’t take much to spark an interest.”

Garner has been selling guns for nearly 20-years. He told the WYFF investigative team that firearms sales have spiked in the past couple of weeks, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Garner even stated his sales are up 33% when compared to last February.

Garner further said the AR-15, 5.56×45mm, magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic rifle, is the hottest item in the shop, selling more than 17 in two weeks.

As we noted, this past weekend’s gun show at the Florida State Fairgrounds, saw a record number of gun enthusiasts who were eager to get their hands on an AR-15 before the government bans assault-style rifles.

“Hundreds have signed up for firearms safety training classes at the Florida Gun Show & organizers say it’s a big spike from years past,” said Bay News 9 field reporter, Angie Angers.

‘Just 3 days after Florida’s worst ever school shooting….Floridians flood to a gun show to further arm themselves with high powered assault weapons,” said the British journalist, .

“Florida Gun Show organizers say they saw record crowd yesterday with nearly 7,000 attendees despite gun control debate,” said one aspiring Twitter blogger.

As we detailed before, this could explain why the Floridians’ excitement around guns is skyrocketing:

Somewhat ironically, this was to be expected considering the massive effort by gun control advocates to erode as much of the Second Amendment as they can in the wake of the Parkland shooting – never letting a crisis go to waste and all that. President Trump’s recent advocacy for more stringent background checks, a 10-day waiting period and raising the age limit on the purchase of guns following the Parkland shooting likely fueled concerns over a “slippery slope” of firearms legislation.

Florida lawmakers such as Senator Bill Nelson (D) have called for stricter laws to fix the so-called “gun show loophole” which allows people to purchase firearms without a background check. While federally licensed vendors at a gun show are still required to run background checks (FFL), private sellers without a federal license do not have the same requirement in 40 states. (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington D.C., New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington all require private sellers to conduct background checks).

“Some of the people attending are afraid that future legislation will impact their gun ownership rights,” said Fernandez. That said, 95% of the vendors at this weekend’s Florida Gun Show are required to run background checks since they are licensed dealers.

Also of note, suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz passed a background check before legally purchasing a semiautomatic AR-15 style rifle.

“This was a mental health issue. This is someone who should have been identified from the beginning by law enforcement,” says Fernandez.

Meanwhile, what Google reveals about Americans’ recent gun-related queries, is downright stunning:

Google searches for “buy a gun” in the Florida region have soared to all-time highs.

The rest of the US is not different: google searches for “buy a gun” across the entire United States also just hit a record.

Finally, one place where public anxiety has yet to surpass the levels post Sandy Hook is fears about the Second Amendment: here google searches are still well below what Google observed in the aftermath of the tragic December 2012 event.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/2EYlAT6 Tyler Durden

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