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Friday, January 14, 2011

Arizona Gun Sales Surge In Wake Of Tucson Shooting

Store owner Greg Wolff takes a look at a customer's Glock semiautomatic pistol at his Glockmeister store in Phoenix. (AP)

One-day sales of handguns in Arizona jumped 60 percent on January 10th — the Monday after the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and 14 injured, including Congressman Gabrielle Giffords.

One area store owner says he’s having trouble keeping Glock pistols on his shelves. And ammunition is selling just as briskly.

We talk to Steve Zacher, operations manager for Glockmeister Gun Shops in Arizona, about the surge in sales, Arizona gun laws and why his customers are buying the weapons.

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • http://gregorycamp.wordpress.com/ Greg Camp

    It’s basic economics. When the supply is threatened, the demand increases. As to the question of rights, we don’t ask why a person needs to buy five books or journals in a day.

  • monte

    Of course there was an increase in sales with a anti gun President in office. With the democratic party for the most part believing that the Constitution is a living document thus rendering the actual Constitution as meaningless and susceptible to change by popular culture demands it a given that the peoples rights are under attack and can be taken away at the drop of a hat.

  • Bruce Alvarez

    If reloading the magazines at the range is too much of an inconvenience, the target shooter can buy 3 standard clips instead of 1 large clip. It isn’t a big deal to pop out a clip and put in a new one.

    As the store manager said, the large clips change the way the gun handles because of their weight. IF people are training for legitimate purposes, I would think they would want the gun to ‘feel’ the same during training as it would in ‘real use’.

    In short – there is no valid reason the large clips exist in the civilian world. We NEED to reinstate (and strengthen) the assault weapons ban.
    A kid in MA killed himself at a gun show shooting an Uzi. What purpose does an Uzi have in the hands of a law abiding citizen?

    The second amendment does not guarantee the “right to bear ANY arms you might want”.

  • Nick from Massachusetts

    Everyone should be required to spend time in the military – as they do in countries from Switzerland to Israel.

    Because let me tell you, if you have been in the military, you are not finding your masculinity or your prowess through a gun.

    These massive guns and clips and foolishly fancy additions have no value other than to excite the buyer. When I saw pictures of men carrying exotic weapons with stupid accessories to public hearings, part of me laughed at them, part of me worried about them, but all of me thought “WHAT A JERK ! WHAT A LOOSER ! ” amongst a few other expletives.

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