Gun stores reporting record sales in wake of tragedy - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Gun stores are reporting record sales as the nation debates gun control in wake of the Connecticut mass shooting.

FOX 5's Doug Evans found that the longest lines were to buy military-style semi-automatic rifles, which some fear might be the first targets in gun legislation. But Evans also found people who were buying their first handguns.

Richard and Dale Jackson of Kennesaw were among the hundreds who crowded around the counters of Adventure Outdoors in Cobb County.

"We've been doing…thinking about it for years and just now seemed like a good time to do it," said Dale Jackson.

Much of the activity was at the counter, where owner Jay Wallace says the store displays what he calls "the AR platform." Those are the kind of semi-automatic rifles that are the most controversial in the gun control debate.

"When they had the assault weapons banned prior, firearms in that category doubled in price," said Wallace.

Politics, Wallace says, is driving gun sales at his store to record levels; he broke another sales record on Wednesday.

But the Jacksons said it was not politics, but protection that brought them in. They are empty nesters.

"Well since my kids are grown… I feel a little more safe-conscious that they're not going to get to it. And, I don't know, I just need it, think, with all the craziness that's going on in the world nowadays," said Jackson.

Also adding to sales are gun buyers who are simply making holiday purchases.

Wallace says that he first set a sales record on Saturday, the day after the Connecticut school tragedy. That record was surpassed on Wednesday by another new sales record, which was 20 percent more than Saturday's sales.