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| Rick Brand, Chief Operating Officer of Amendment II, shoots a 9 mm pistol into a children's backpack, left, fitted with an anti-ballistic insert, during a demonstration at a gun range, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, in Taylorsville, Utah. Anxious parents reeling in the wake the Connecticut school shooting are fueling sales of armored backpacks for children, as firearms enthusiasts stock up on assault rifles nationwide amid fears of imminent gun control measures. At Amendment II, sales of children backpacks and armored inserts are up 300 percent. |
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The reaction to the deadly Connecticut school shooting can be seen at gun stores and self-defense retailers across the nation, with anxious parents buying armored backpacks for children and firearms enthusiasts stocking up on assault weapons in anticipation of tighter gun control measures.
A spike in gun sales is
common after a mass shooting, but the latest rampage has generated
record sales in some states, particularly of rifles similar to the AR-15
the gunman used in an attack Friday on Sandy Hook Elementary School
that killed 26 people, including 20 children.
Colorado
set a single-day record for gun background check requests the day after
the shootings, while Nevada saw more checks in the two days that
followed than any other weekend this year. Records were also set in
Tennessee, California and Virginia, among others.
Some
gun shop owners stopped selling their remaining stock of military-style
rifles, anticipating only more interest and value after President
Barack Obama on Wednesday instructed his administration to create
concrete proposals to reduce gun violence.
Robert
Akers, a Rapid City, S.D., gun seller who specializes in such rifles,
said the rush of customers had transformed his Rapid Fire Firearms store
into a "madhouse" and that he's not actively selling the guns and has
turned off his phone.
"The price is only going to go up higher," he said.
There
was also an unusual increase in sales for armored backpacks designed to
shield children caught in shootings, according to three companies that
make them.
The armor inserts fit into the back
panel of a child's backpack, and sell for up to $400, depending on the
retailer. The armor is designed to stop bullets from handguns, not
assault weapons like the one used in the shooting at the Newtown, Conn.,
school.
Still, the manufacturers and some
parents say that while they don't guarantee children won't be killed,
they could still be used as shields.
Ken
Larson, 41, of Denver, Colo., already had an armored backpack for
himself and persuaded his wife to buy one for their 1-year-old after the
latest shootings. He knows the backpack won't guarantee his son's
safety. But, he added, it was a worthy precaution.
"It's
a no brainer. My son's life is invaluable," Larson said. "If I can get
him a backpack for $200 that makes him safer, I don't even have to think
about that."
Some experts, however, say
sending children to school in armored backpacks is not a healthy
response to fear about mass shootings. Anne Marie Albano, psychiatry
director at Columbia University's Clinic for Anxiety and Related
Disorders, said parents should convey calmness, not anxiety.
"This
is not serving to keep children safe," she said. "This is serving to
increase their fear and their suspicion of their peers."
At
Amendment II in Salt Lake City, sales of its children's backpacks and
armored inserts have increased, with 200 purchase requests Wednesday
alone.
"The incident last week highlights the
need to protect our children," said co-owner Derek Williams. "We didn't
get in this business to do this. But the fact is that our armor can help
children just as it can help soldiers."
Kerry
Clark, president of Texas-based Backpackshield.com, began making the
backpacks after the deadly mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. Clark
said he sold 15 backpacks Wednesday. Prior to Friday's shooting, he
said, the company would sometimes go an entire month and just sell one.
"It's the busiest I've seen it in my life," he said.
Bullet
Blocker, a Massachusetts-based company that sells the backpack armor,
declined to provide sales numbers but noted that recent sales were
substantially more than normal.
Sales of assault weapons also were on the rise.
Austin
Cook, general manager of Hoover Tactical Firearms in suburban
Birmingham, Ala., said the spike in sales since Friday's shootings has
been so intense that federal background checks that typically take five
minutes or less are now taking up to an hour.
Cook
said about 50 people were waiting in line for his store to open the
morning after the shootings, and that he's since sold nearly all of his
assault weapons. Now, he's trying to find more distributors.
"I can't keep them in the store," Cook said.
In
Pittsburgh, Dick's Sporting Goods said it was suspending sales of
modern rifles nationwide because of the shooting. The company also said
it's removing all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown.
Aaron
Byrd, co-owner of Patriot Shooting Sports in Youngsville, N.C., is sold
out of the AR-15 rifles, ammo for those types of guns and high-capacity
magazines.
"Things have been crazy the past
couple of days. A lot of people have been coming in looking to purchase
semiautomatic rifles. They're worried that the government's going to ban
semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, so they've been
coming in looking for those," he said.
He added, "I think it is a knee-jerk reaction by both parties - both the government and the citizens."
