Fear of new restrictions boosts U.S. gun sales
Dealers in the Valley say people are stocking up on assault weapons and ammunition.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Got guns? Sali and Minnick do
Democratic candidate Walt Minnick leads Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Sali by a 7-to-5 margin in one of the most telling polls of Idaho's 1st Congressional District race: a tally of the two rivals' personal firearms.
In Idaho, gun ownership - especially in tight elections - can be a way for candidates to communicate shared values with residents, many of whom hunted before they could watch PG-13 movies.
Minnick owns seven guns: three pistols, a .22-caliber rifle, two Remington shotguns and a pellet gun he's used to teach his children to shoot. Sali, who in 2006 helped fight off an Army National Guard effort to restrict shooting in a Snake River raptor preserve, owns two shotguns and three rifles.
Now Minnick and Sali are dueling over who would best stick up for Second Amendment rights. Sali won an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association on a questionnaire; Minnick got a D+.
Meanwhile, Minnick, a former business executive who tied for the highest score in his 1970 U.S. Army class's marksmanship test, was endorsed by a rival group, the American Hunters and Shooters Association, which says the NRA backs candidates for partisan reasons.
"I think guns are part of our American culture," Minnick said earlier this month. "There is no one more opposed to gun control than I am."
Sali, a lawyer from Kuna, retorted, "He believes it's OK to go out and shoot a deer, but not a criminal intruder in your own home."
The Associated Press
BY BRAD TALBUTT - btalbutt@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 10/31/08
RecommendGun sellers in the Treasure Valley say sales are increasing because of fears that Sen. Barack Obama will back new gun control laws if he is elected president.
"Sales are definitely up," said Larry Livesay, owner of Larry's Sporting Goods, 704 2nd St., Nampa. "People are buying more guns and ammo because they are afraid of Obama."
Livesay said gun sellers are just as worried as their customers.
The concern is nationwide. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported 8.4 million checks nationally through Sept. 28. That's a 9 percent increase over the same period last year.
And the National Shooting Sports Foundation cited federal tax data that showed the sales of firearms and ammunition have increased about 10 percent this year compared to last year, though some gun shop owners say a desire for self-protection in the weakening economy is part of the reason.
Obama says he supports an individual's right to bear arms but that he also believes in "common-sense safety measures."
In a speech at Boise State University in February, Obama told Idahoans, "We got a lot hunters in the state of Illinois, and I have no intention of taking away folks' guns."
He does have a history of support for gun restrictions, though.
Factcheck.org says Obama endorsed a ban on handguns during his 1996 bid for an Illinois state Senate seat. Obama has denied supporting an "all-out ban on handguns" but favors allowing city and state governments to pass their own gun control laws.
Gun sellers say customers don't have to voice their concerns out loud for sellers to sense them. One Boise firearm retailer, who asked not to be identified, said, "It's easy to tell what a guy is thinking when he buys 10 or 15 guns and a couple boxes of ammo for each. You can tell he's worried that prices will go up and availability will go down."
Jason Hopper, vice president of Boise Gun Co. at 4105 Adams in Garden City, said he hears grumbling about Obama's policies from customers several times a day.
"The first thing people are worried about is a reintroduction of a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines," Hopper said. Sales of those products are up in his store, Hopper said.
Ryan Horsley, manager of Red's Trading Post in Twin Falls, says sales of assault-type rifles, such as military-style AR-15s, have jumped, far outselling traditional, bolt-action hunting rifles.
"It's really unpopular to say you are not a fan of the Second Amendment, so what you have to look out for are the 'buts,' " Horsley told The Times-News. "What you often hear is a candidate saying something like, 'I support the Second Amendment, but we need to ban certain guns.' "
Sen. John McCain voted against a ban on assault-type weapons but favors requiring background checks at gun shows.
Brad Talbutt: 672-6737.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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