With some gun owners concerned that gun laws will become stricter with Barack Obama in the White House, local gun stores may be profiting off the election results.
At M & C Army Surplus on Northwest 13th Street, interest in and sales of firearms have increased nearly 50 percent since Obama was elected president, said Suzanne Miller, the store's owner.
Similar increases have only happened a few times before, Miller said, such as during the 1990 Danny Rolling murders and after a jogger was raped at Haile Plantation in May.
Small, concealable and cheaper weapons are the most popular, she said, because of high ammunition prices.
Mike Swart, an employee of M & C Army Surplus, said he noticed a significant increase in sales the day before Election Day.
Swart said the last few weeks have been "crazy," and the store has sold about three guns a day.
Robbie Damper, a Gainesville resident who owns four guns, said he thinks high-capacity guns will be banned through legislation. Damper said stricter laws would reduce rights, not reduce crime.
"Going after stuff like that just hurts the honest Americans," he said.
Eric Jotkoff, spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, said gun owners should not be worried.
Jotkoff said Obama has always supported Americans' rights to own guns and was endorsed by the American Hunters and Shooters Association.
The rising sales might also be affected by other factors, Miller said.
During hard economic times, people tend to invest in firearms because they do not decrease in value, she said.
The rise could also be affected by an increased crime rate, she said.
Acquiring a gun has not become easier, Miller said, and the store does background checks before approving purchases.
"It's not mass murderers buying them," she said.
