Guns are flying off store shelves, but gun shop owners are unsure whether to attribute that to fears of tougher new gun control laws, crime or hunting season.
"Customer traffic in general is busy this time of year," said Matt Geiser, manager of Geiser Guns, on Tuesday.
"In central Pennsylvania, what we tend to have is hunters and shooters and that's where the bulk of sales lies."
Several customers have come into the Sunbury store and said they were getting guns "while they can," a reference to potential gun control laws, but he doesn't think that is the main reason for the increase in sales locally.
Many gun sales can be attributed to the coming deer and bear season, he said.
"Some are purchasing now to get ahead of any pending changes to gun laws with the new president taking office and Democratic Congress coming up next year," he said. "I would say we might see something, but not on the scale of what we're hearing on national news."
Reports say gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fear that the Obama administration will push tough new gun laws.
While both Geiser and media reports say the sale of guns is rising now, the trend in the Central Susquehanna Valley during the past few years has been mixed or lower since 2001.
Geiser said a few customers have come in looking for assault rifles, the type that had been banned during President Clinton's term.
He said people may be interested in looking in case the ban is re-enacted after President-elect Obama takes office.
The main sales, however, are hunting rifles, shotguns and a pistols.
While he didn't have exact figures, Geiser said hunting firearms sales are down a little, but handgun sales are up.
Men of the baby boomer generation are the main customers, he said.
But women of all ages have been purchasing handguns recently.
"I'm not sure if their focus is on different legislation," he said, "or because of what they are seeing in the news and what is affecting them locally."
The semiautomatic pistols, he said, are not legal to go hunting with.
"That leads us to believe (the customers) aren't intending to go hunting," he said. "Their intent could be self-defense, to carry or at home. There is an increase but I'm not so sure all fear gun law changes in the coming years."
The crime rate was behind some of the sales, he added.
A handgun, he said, generally costs between $200 and $300.
A hunting rifle can range from $200 for a used one to more than $1,000.
Jack Gerst, a Montour County commissioner and avid hunter, said he believes the whole gun law idea is just panic.
"I don't believe we're going to lose our rights," he said. "It's a panic thing. It will take more than one or two guys do to that."
Gerst said he believes responsibility goes along with gun ownership, and said 99.9 percent of all sportsmen -- who are a good majority of those owning firearms in central Pennsylvania -- are responsible people.
"Sportsmen of this country won't allow them to take our guns," he said. "For that to happen would take a whole lot."
"It's not going to happen in my grandchildren's lifetime," he said.
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