Local Gun Expert Says Election Day Spike In Firearm Sales Common
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A newspaper circular advertising an "Election Day" sale on firearms sparked a bit of outrage among residents in Cheltenham Township.
But such sales- are not uncommon.
"Gun sales-- exercise your rights, hand guns-- and then I open it up and there are two pages of assault rifles," says Marilyn Jewett.
The Cheltenham resident received a special circular last week advertising an Election Day Sale. It was mixed in with her grocery store coupons, only what was on "sale" were handguns, rifles and much more.
Discounts ranged from $30 to as much as $100 off firearms and accessories.
"It didn't scare me-- it angered me," says Jewett, noting intense rhetoric surrounding the election. "I don't care about either candidate-- but what i do care about is a call to arms-- and that's what this does-- it tells people to go get their guns."
"When there are rhetoric leading up to the election that mention the Second Amendment, automatically, there's panic," says Yuri Zalzman, ownerr of The Gun Range near Percy and Spring Garden.
He says a spike in gun sales has become more common near an election and that he saw a huge increase in the number of new gun owners using his range after both the 2008 and 2012 elections, as well as shortage of firearms, rifles and ammunition.
"Especially in 2012, within a week or 10 days of Obama being elected AK-15's doubled in price," he says, "and two three weeks down the road people were getting three times the price-- it was really a seller's market."
The 2016 Election, however, isn't seeing a similar gun rush. KYW Newsradio polled a few local gun shops and most had not seen a large increase in sales.
"I think people are a little bit more prudent," says Zalzman.
Instead, the big difference is who is purchasing guns. Zalzman says 60-percent of his customers are women; his other surge is in the first time gun owner population. He says many of his customers want to be trained on how to properly use their new firearm.
"I'm seeing families, older couples who live in expensive neighborhoods, men of the cloth," says Zalzman.
But given past boosts in gun sales near Elections, there was little surprise over the circular.
"It sends the wrong message," says Kinard Lang, Jewett's neighbor. "People should not be encouraging the sales of handguns immediately before a controversial election."
As for Jewett-- she called KYW Newsradio calling for an end to gun ads.
"If it were hunting rifles, it would be fine," says Jewett, "but handguns are only for hunting people."
