UK & World News
- 25 December 2012, 1:43
US Bullet Demand Hits 'Unprecedented' Levels
The world's largest seller of gun supplies cannot keep up with demand as orders for assault weapon and high-capacity magazines sky-rocket in the wake of the Newtown school shooting.
Pete Brownell, president of Brownells, said that in a three-day period the company has sold an "unprecedented" three-and-a-half years' worth of inventory of magazines.
Posting on the shooting enthusiast message board AR15.com, Mr Brownell said: "The demand for magazines actually exceeded the ability for the system to keep up with the volume that was being ordered."
He apologised to customers for the backlog and said the company is manufacturing at 100% capacity, and will increase production in coming weeks to meet the massive influx of orders - which could take months to deliver.
"We're working like crazy to get these orders to you as quickly as possible," Mr Brownell said.
With the debate over limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines heating up again after the Sandy Hook shooting, worried gun enthusiasts are stocking up while they can.
The semi-automatic Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was the style used by gunman Adam Lanza when he killed 20 children and six adults at the Connecticut school on December 14.
It was also the model used in July by suspected Colorado movie theatre shooter James Holmes in the rampage that killed 12 people.
The Sandy Hook shooting is the latest in a string of mass shootings in the United States, which has far more lax gun laws than in most other developed nations.
In the latest shooting, two firemen have been killed and two injured after going to put out a house fire in New York state.
Florida, the most heavily armed state, rocketed this week to a new record of active carry permits - over one million - a state government spokesman said. Florida has 19 million people.
Newspapers in rural areas around the country also reported a roaring pre-Christmas trade in guns and magazines, especially at gun shows, long considered a loophole by gun control activists as they often do not require buyers to undergo any background checks.
There were an estimated 310 million non-military firearms in the United States in 2009, roughly one per citizen.
US President Barack Obama said he would support a new bill to ban assault rifles and put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of a panel looking at a wide range of other measures, from school security to mental health.
Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein has pledged to table a bill on January 3 that would ban at least 100 military-style semi-automatic assault weapons, and would curb the transfer, importation and the possession of such arms.
what do you think?
Emma Allum
The thing that gets me is that the 2nd amendment that they all keep bleating on about was made for the civil war, and is out of date. Amendments can be amended! All too late now though. Even a gun amnesty isn't going to touch the amount of fools that carry them in America. Simple, simple people.
michael
lax gun laws suit lax brains.when will they learn?
Adrian Wagstaff
In all honesty, I clicked on this news article expecting to see an image of an American version of a Japanese Bullet Train. I really did. I thought I was going to be reading about Americans were wanting Japanese Bullet Trains. It really doesn't make a lot of sense to me to buy guns to defend yourself at the school where the shooting occurred. I think I would feel very safe in that area. I would happilly go there without a gun. If you consider, after a school shooting in America, security in the entire area is increased and people are more careful and suspiscious of everyone else, that, I think, is why copy cat shootings tend to happen elsewhere, including the fact that the person responsible also shot himself. It makes me wonder about the possible environmental effects of millions of bullets fired in American shooting ranges compared to the impact on the atmosphere and terrain of military and civilian rocket launches? Millions of burning, used bullet cartridge chemicals?
Daniel smith
that makes no sense at all.
Adrian Wagstaff
It does to me. So, all these Americans are buying guns to defend themselves and their children. A lot of them admit to leaving their guns in their cars. They can't sit in a classroom with a gun in their school bag. If their guns are locked away, well, my thought is, in order to use a gun, to defend themselves, how are they expecting to get to their guns during a mass shooting? If a teacher had a gun, each of them could still be shot first? Infact, the shooter had a bullet-proof jacket?
Chris Price
Panic buying, Buy all the ammo and magazines you can while its still legal to do so
shirley sutton
O M G is that their Nswer more guns and more bullets? Beyond belief
shirley sutton
O M G is this their answer - buy more guns and bullets?? Beyond belief
Paul Walsh
Absolute Madness!!! Remember when Reagan & Gorbachev sat down and realised that they had enough bombs to blow up the world numerous times and decided enough was enough! Then they reduced the amount of real weapons that they each had. Not a bit like whats happening now!!!
stevegs850
does the us govt realise if ever there is a national crisis there may be enough citizens that agree on the same matter to mobilise a small well stocked army,Hold on, hasnt this just happened in syria?
jimmyjedi1979
Brilliant. The fools in here don't understand the severity on disarming the populations. The government is going for a full police state in America- no civil rights. The guns are the peoples last bastion before the government enslave the people to do its bidding. False flags and constant propaganda fools most of us here in the UK. The people in the US know what's coming though hence why they are stocking up. The amendment is to protect the people from the government. And since this government has been involved in 50 wars and killed millions upon millions of people lo the last 65 years id say they have every right to be worried. Power to the people.
Adrian Wagstaff
President Obama does not seem like the kind of person to form a police state. An American police state is as fictiscious as a Mayan Calendar prophecy. One crazed gunman shot people in a cinema and one possibly Asperger's child lost his temper and used his gun-obsessed mother's weapons to shoot her and lots of people at a school and now you are talking about an American civil war because everyone is buying guns to "defend" themselves, as if they even can. There are national crises in America all the time, such as that town which was flooded along the coast or the massive tornadoes all through the summer. Very often, tornado season in America results in your worries about a police/military state. That has happened for a long time with no complaints from anyone.
jimmyjedi1979
Adrian- i can see you mean well mate. But people like you are a danger to mankind. Start reading and learning ;)
shaun spencer
You can only despair at the americans.for a race that calls itself civilized their ruddy fools
happymike CHESTER
The American civil war stars by accident in 2013 ,lets hope the crazies don`t get near the nuclear button. The zombies have the guns the normal people are unarmed the new plague to hit the U.S.A.
blue side
This is the nation that polices the world !! beam me up Scottie
John Dodsworth
Bye bye to all guns they should be crushed
Mike MCDonough
The lunatics have really taken over.
Daniel smith
5:26pm on 24/12/2012
crazy, backwards americans.