North Texas gun shop owners say spike in sales not related to Capitol riot
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DALLAS (KTVT) — Political unrest and a reported rush to buy ammunition and guns.
Are they related?
Some North Texas firearms retailers say, “No.”
“A lot of the people that are claiming 300%, 400% increase in ammo sales. I have a hard time believing that,” says Taylor Graaf at Ray’s Sporting Goods in Dallas, adding there’s just too little supply to support that kind of increase.
“Maybe they’re talking about their profit,” says Graaf. “But as for ammo sales? I don’t see how that’s too logical. The chain is what the chain is. We’re one of the biggest gun stores in the nation. We get availability of ammo and guns before most people do and were not able to get it like that.”
As for the violence at the U. S. Capitol, local experts tell CBS 11 that they don’t believe that any spikes in gun sales have anything to do with any planned civil unrest, but rather the increases reflect the reality that the outcome of the presidential election will not be overturned.
And Democrats are more likely to pursue gun control measures.
Gun dealers also say demand has been building since long before the assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“Last year when you have police saying, ‘hey if you’re shot, stabbed, we’re on the way, anything else, it’s up to you’ [that] shakes a lot of people out of their apathy,” says Ray’s Sporting Goods manager Cody Harris. “Different political spectrums, it all doesn’t matter.”
Local firearms dealers tell me they are also seeing more first timers shopping for guns at a time when prices are skyrocketing because of panic buying.
“The fact that they can’t come in and get as much as they want, I think definitely drives panic with some people, it makes them fearful,” says Graaf. “Now when they ask for a hundred and I I say ‘no’, they want to buy a thousand.”
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