Preacherman
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From the NO Times-Picayune (http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1140332777146440.xml):
Firearm sales are booming since Katrina
Chaos after storm has fueled fears
Sunday, February 19, 2006
By Paul Rioux
St. Tammany bureau
Jo Petty bought her first gun 20 years ago after she was robbed in the drive-through lane at a fast-food restaurant.
"After I placed my order, I turned and there was a gun pointed at my head," she said. "I'd never felt so scared or vulnerable in my life."
Her husband, Dan Petty, took her to a shooting range, and she bought a handgun that she kept in her Slidell area home. For years, it seemed like enough protection. But then came Hurricane Katrina.
Reports of looting and lawlessness after the storm have prompted her to shop for a gun small enough to carry with her.
"It's just something that would help me feel a little safer," she said as she handled a 9 mm pistol Saturday at the Slidell Gun and Knife Show.
"We've always had guns," Dan Petty said. "But the question now is, do we have enough?"
More than 1,000 people flocked to the Northshore Harbor Center to attend the show, which was nearly twice as large as one staged by the same group a month before the hurricane.
Dealers at the 225-table show said firearm sales have surged throughout the New Orleans area as residents replace guns that were destroyed or stolen during the storm. They also reported a spike in sales to first-time gun owners.
"Everyone keeps saying that a gun in the hand is better than being on the phone trying to reach the police or a 911 dispatcher," said Alan Reese, manager of Elliot's Gun Shop in Jefferson.
Bill Stadler, a gun dealer who hosts the Slidell gun show three times a year, said the increase in sales appears evenly divided between people buying replacement weapons and those seeking extra protection.
"A lot of people who have never owned a gun before are thinking, 'Hey, maybe I ought to have one in the house just in case,' " he said. "To tell you the truth, it's kind of sad to think that people feel they have to be armed for their own safety."
Stadler said he urges first-time gun buyers to take a course in firearm safety.
That advice was echoed by one of the first people standing in line before the show opened: U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
"Gun safety is a critical part of gun ownership," said Letten, an avid sportsman. "There is an enormous legal and moral responsibility to protect your children and visitors if you decide to keep a gun in your home."
Although business was brisk Saturday, dealers said it was nothing compared with the area's first post-Katrina gun show in mid-December in Kenner, where more than 250 people waited for the doors to open.
"There wasn't even a line. It was just a great big horde of people coming in," said Stadler, a dealer at the show.
He said the gun-buying spree has been fueled by fears that the storm put more guns in the hands of criminals.
Authorities have said more than 600 firearms were looted from pawnshops and gun dealers in the storm's immediate aftermath, along with an untold number of guns stolen from private homes.
Reese said Elliot's Gun Shop reopened three weeks after the Aug. 29 storm and quickly sold much of its inventory to law enforcement officers.
"We did about a year's worth of business in the first month," he said. "We had another wave of customers the next month when residents started returning -- men, women, people of all ages. We even had some little old ladies who never dreamed they'd be buying a gun."
He said customers have brought in about 2,300 flood-damaged guns in the hopes that they could be repaired.
"About half of them were too rusted to fix," he said. "It's tough because hunters can get pretty attached to their guns."
A Marine who lives near Slidell said floodwaters destroyed two shotguns he bought in Turkey, where he had been stationed to enforce the no-fly zone in Iraq after the first Gulf War.
With gold engravings depicting hunting scenes, the shotguns were worth more than $2,000 each, said the man, who asked not to be identified.
"They're pretty much irreplaceable," he said while filling out paperwork to buy a Polish pistol at the show. "It's a crying shame. Next time I evacuate, everything goes with me."
Firearm sales are booming since Katrina
Chaos after storm has fueled fears
Sunday, February 19, 2006
By Paul Rioux
St. Tammany bureau
Jo Petty bought her first gun 20 years ago after she was robbed in the drive-through lane at a fast-food restaurant.
"After I placed my order, I turned and there was a gun pointed at my head," she said. "I'd never felt so scared or vulnerable in my life."
Her husband, Dan Petty, took her to a shooting range, and she bought a handgun that she kept in her Slidell area home. For years, it seemed like enough protection. But then came Hurricane Katrina.
Reports of looting and lawlessness after the storm have prompted her to shop for a gun small enough to carry with her.
"It's just something that would help me feel a little safer," she said as she handled a 9 mm pistol Saturday at the Slidell Gun and Knife Show.
"We've always had guns," Dan Petty said. "But the question now is, do we have enough?"
More than 1,000 people flocked to the Northshore Harbor Center to attend the show, which was nearly twice as large as one staged by the same group a month before the hurricane.
Dealers at the 225-table show said firearm sales have surged throughout the New Orleans area as residents replace guns that were destroyed or stolen during the storm. They also reported a spike in sales to first-time gun owners.
"Everyone keeps saying that a gun in the hand is better than being on the phone trying to reach the police or a 911 dispatcher," said Alan Reese, manager of Elliot's Gun Shop in Jefferson.
Bill Stadler, a gun dealer who hosts the Slidell gun show three times a year, said the increase in sales appears evenly divided between people buying replacement weapons and those seeking extra protection.
"A lot of people who have never owned a gun before are thinking, 'Hey, maybe I ought to have one in the house just in case,' " he said. "To tell you the truth, it's kind of sad to think that people feel they have to be armed for their own safety."
Stadler said he urges first-time gun buyers to take a course in firearm safety.
That advice was echoed by one of the first people standing in line before the show opened: U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
"Gun safety is a critical part of gun ownership," said Letten, an avid sportsman. "There is an enormous legal and moral responsibility to protect your children and visitors if you decide to keep a gun in your home."
Although business was brisk Saturday, dealers said it was nothing compared with the area's first post-Katrina gun show in mid-December in Kenner, where more than 250 people waited for the doors to open.
"There wasn't even a line. It was just a great big horde of people coming in," said Stadler, a dealer at the show.
He said the gun-buying spree has been fueled by fears that the storm put more guns in the hands of criminals.
Authorities have said more than 600 firearms were looted from pawnshops and gun dealers in the storm's immediate aftermath, along with an untold number of guns stolen from private homes.
Reese said Elliot's Gun Shop reopened three weeks after the Aug. 29 storm and quickly sold much of its inventory to law enforcement officers.
"We did about a year's worth of business in the first month," he said. "We had another wave of customers the next month when residents started returning -- men, women, people of all ages. We even had some little old ladies who never dreamed they'd be buying a gun."
He said customers have brought in about 2,300 flood-damaged guns in the hopes that they could be repaired.
"About half of them were too rusted to fix," he said. "It's tough because hunters can get pretty attached to their guns."
A Marine who lives near Slidell said floodwaters destroyed two shotguns he bought in Turkey, where he had been stationed to enforce the no-fly zone in Iraq after the first Gulf War.
With gold engravings depicting hunting scenes, the shotguns were worth more than $2,000 each, said the man, who asked not to be identified.
"They're pretty much irreplaceable," he said while filling out paperwork to buy a Polish pistol at the show. "It's a crying shame. Next time I evacuate, everything goes with me."
