Up in arms: Big increase in gun sales, applications for concealed pistol licenses

YAKIMA, Wash. — Dick Strunk is buying bullets in bulk.

The gun enthusiast recently had to use both hands to heave a case of ammunition off the sales counter at Bestway Pawn Mart. It's 10 times his usual amount.

He's stocking up. These days, ammunition is expensive and sometimes hard to find.

"Our fear is, we're not going to be able to come here and buy," says Strunk, a 52-year-old agricultural equipment salesman from Yakima.

Beneath his forearms a sign taped to the glass display counter spells out the cause of his worry: GET YOUR GUN'S NOW BEFORE OBAMA DOES.

Fueled by fears that President Barack Obama might tighten firearms regulations, guns and ammunition sales are shooting through the roof.

No single agency tracks all gun sales in individual counties, but evidence points to a surge.

Local gun owners are having trouble finding bullets. Police clerks are struggling to keep up with applications to carry concealed weapons. And shops are selling stock faster than they can replace it.

"Especially assault weapons, they're just flying out the door," says Dianne Mabry, manager of Yakima's Bestway, a pawn shop that also sells new firearms and ammunition. Her guns and ammo sales have nearly doubled since November, and customers are buying bullets in bulk for the first time she can remember.

So far, the Obama administration has taken no action on guns. However, policy statements posted on the White House Web site say his administration supports reinstating and making permanent a ban on assault weapons, as well as releasing some currently confidential law enforcement data tracking gun ownership.

In 2000, while in the Illinois Senate, Obama supported a bill that would have limited purchases to one gun per month.

A Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress drives fears even more. A House resolution proposed by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would establish a federal system of licensing and sales records for certain firearms.

"They're trying to get rid of the American public having arms, as far as I'm concerned," Strunk says.

Buying, carrying

The reaction is being felt across the Yakima Valley and the country.

In Oklahoma, the state Bureau of Investigation needed extra employees in February to process a spike in concealed-carry permit applications, according to the Tulsa World.

Time Magazine reports that firearms sales in large
retail outlets are up 39 percent this year. The mag-
azine also reports that FBI
background checks, which are required every time a federally licensed dealer sells a gun, between Novem-ber 2008 and March 2009 rose 29.3 percent over the same period a year earlier.

In January, an "unprecedented increase in demand" caused the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to begin running short of a type of form that must be filled out any time a person buys a firearm from a gun dealer. As a temporary measure, the agency is allowing dealers to photocopy the form.

Over the last several months, the Selah Police Department has struggled at times to resupply its ammunition. At the same time, Chief Stacy Dwarshuis has signed nearly triple the number of concealed pistol licenses in the first three months this year compared with the same period last year.

Dwarshuis talked to one man who recently purchased three guns -- an assault rifle and two pistols -- after never owning a gun in his life.

"I thought that was kind of interesting," Dwarshuis says.

The Yakima County Sheriff's Office issued almost 1,000 concealed pistol licenses to new license-holders in 2008, far and away the highest number in the past 10 years. This year is on pace to shatter that record.

Clerks at police departments and the Yakima County Sheriff's Office run criminal background checks on anyone applying for a concealed pistol license, formerly called a concealed weapons permit.

They don't ask why a person is applying, but many people tell them.

About nine out of 10 of the applicants who do give a reason at the sheriff's office cite concerns over Obama's gun policies, says Debbie Martin, records supervisor.

"They were frightened before the election and they were frightened after the election," Martin says.

The trend by itself doesn't cause any extra worry for police, says Capt. Greg Copeland of the Yakima Police Department, as long a people buy their guns legally.

"The people who buy guns legally and go through the proper steps ... usually are not the ones doing drive-bys doing homicides," Copeland says.

Gun, ammo prices increase with demand

Ammunition and gun prices also have gone up, creating even more demand.

Levi Noyes, a gun collector and target shooter from Yakima, says he's noticed ammunition prices doubling in places, while some gun prices have soared up to five times their normal value.

"The Gun Blue Book doesn't really apply to the market right now," says Noyes, a sergeant in the Washington National Guard.

A box of 50 9mm bullets, a common handgun size, has jumped from $10 to $14 in recent months at Bestway.

A lot of the run is fueled by "panic," says Brad White, an employee at Bestway.

"People ... take it pretty seriously when they perceive their rights are going to be taken away," White says.

Mike Maier, a West Valley gun owner, hasn't reached that point, yet. He stocks up on ammunition when he finds a deal but doesn't plan to purchase a new gun soon just because of what Obama might do.

"It's like a rumor," says Maier, 25. "As a carpenter, I don't make six figures a year."

Strunk, purchasing the bulk ammunition at Bestway, says Obama's policies are only part of the cause. He suspects people are buying more guns to protect themselves from a rise in crime they fear will accompany the economic downturn.

Whatever the reason, he considers the gun spike good news. He hopes it sends a message to government leaders.

"That alone should tell them that these people are unhappy," he says.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.