YUMA – National gun sales are reportedly booming. It's a trend being seen in the desert southwest as well.
"I heard numbers anywhere from no increase to 130-percent increase. Ours is somewhere in the middle, but it's been busy," explains Richard Sprague, owner of Sprague's Sport.
Across post-election America, guns are giving consumers a lot of bang, and they're shelling out the bucks.
"We have felt it as well. And it does seem like it is wide spread. I got friends with stores all across the country and business has been decidedly upbeat."
Some say the grab for guns is being fueled by a fear President Obama will make good on a 2008 campaign promise to re-enact the 1994 federal ban on assault weapons.
"Keep in mind, that bill was sunsetted after 10 years because there was no proof that it worked. It had no effect on crime at all," says Sprague.
While the federal assault weapons ban may be part of the equation, the surge in gun spending has been wide and varied.
"It's across the board. It's evenly split for us. Handguns and long guns, so basically, I think people are deciding to shop while availability is at its best right now and selection is at its best," said Sprague.
I also talked to the owner of the "Gun Shop" in El Centro. He says his major supplier detected a big spike in sales beginning around 11 o'clock election night. He could not provide specific numbers.
While reinstatement of the federal ban assault weapons would affect the sale of some guns in Arizona, the Gun Shop owner in El Centro says they would not affect guns sales in California.
In 1989 California passed the state's "Assault Weapons Control Act."
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