ASSAULT WEAPONS Sales see little change after federal ban expires
One store owner isn't concerned about putting more weapons on the street.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
WASHINGTON -- The federal ban on assault weapons expired this week like a spent bullet -- a lot of smoke and noise, but little impact.
In seven states, allowing the federal law to expire triggered state laws that continued the restrictions. And in states where the prohibited weapons were freely on sale again, gun dealers reported some increase in customer traffic but said the largest impact seemed to be the declining prices of pre-1994 relics once hoarded as modern-day forbidden fruit by some collectors.
Even Mark Westrom, owner of Illinois-based firearms manufacturer ArmaLite, wasn't breaking out the champagne.
"It's been a massive pain in our butts," said Westrom.
He said ArmaLite still has to make two versions of the gun to meet legal requirements in states that have enacted their own laws banning assault weapons -- California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
The expiration of the federal law allows sales of ArmaLite versions that have larger ammunition capacities, collapsible stocks and flash suppressors.
"There's been a lot of wailing and shouting and saying the streets are going to run red," Westrom said, adding the experience of the past few months has given him a valuable civics lesson.
Little difference
Westrom said the change will make little difference to target shooters and "varmint" hunters who have adjusted over the last decade to the deformed version of his company's rifles and don't use the features they had been prohibited from buying. His military and police customers have been able to buy the fully packed version throughout the years of the federal ban -- about the only new market that has opened to collectors.
The federal ban grandfathered guns made before 1994, allowing those weapons still to be sold on the market.
"I'm happy about it. It was a foolish law," Westrom said. He said instant background checks of gun purchasers, coupled with federal crackdowns on criminals who use guns have had far more impact than a law that banned guns based on their cosmetic makeup.
All the heated rhetoric in Washington and election-year campaign charges that the gun law generated didn't translate into activity in gun-store cash registers, several store owners reported.
Sales
In Kentucky, Alex Logsdon of Shooters Supply and Sporting Goods in Covington, and Steven Davis of SRD Shooting Supply in Florence reported no change in sales volume.
Jay Hill, owner of Classic Arms in Memphis, Tenn., said there was some new business, "but not enough to talk a lot about."
Hill said he sold five of the formerly banned AR-15 Bushmaster rifles with 30-round clips on Tuesday, the day after the ban was lifted. He said he's not concerned about putting more assault rifles on the street. "It's not like it's going to cause any more crime," he said. "A criminal can kill you with 10 rounds just as easy as 30."
The picture was a little different in Denver, where at the counter inside Dave's Guns, Gary Hazen read the government warning -- "Restricted military/government law enforcement/export only" -- on a semi-automatic and gleefully proceeded to ignore it by purchasing the gun.
"It will be something of a novelty," the 38-year-old said as he handed over his credit card.
It was the third AR-15 he had bought and he noted the price had gone down. "The main reason I'm buying now is the price," he said. "Now it's affordable."
He said he recently paid $2,000 for an AR-15 manufactured before the assault weapons ban, but his new rifle cost about $1,300.