Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi - best guns and ammo sales force ever!

I guess it's better to pay up now, as millions have decided; but better yet one might have seen it coming and been prepared.

Gun buffs are buying lock, stock and barrel

by Lisa Rose/The Star-Ledger
Sunday April 26, 2009, 10:57 AM

A presidential portrait adorns the corridor between the gun shop and firing range at the Bullet Hole, a Belleville landmark.

Out front, rifles line the wall, muzzles pointed skyward. Revolvers sit in locked glass cases, some basic black, others fashion pink. Old Glory is everywhere, along with military flags, eagle murals and other patriotic decor.

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerSteve Elber, from Montclair, fires a 357 Smith & Wesson, while target shooting at the Bullet Hole, a gun shop and indoor range in Belleville. Gun sales have been up since the election, as firearm owners stock up in fear of federal bans on weapons.

Owner Manny Cerca says the country is facing an identity crisis and he's weary of change. That's why President Obama isn't the leader in the picture atop the doorway.

Cerca still looks up to a photo of George W. Bush.

"I'm fed up with the new administration," says Cerca, 64, and especially concerned about his Second Amendment right to own a gun. "Obama is a European socialist."

Despite the economic downturn -- and because of it to some degree -- consumers are opening their wallets and stepping up to the firing line, according to government statistics. At the Bullet Hole, business has been bustling since the election, as customers are investing in firearms. Cerca says they're motivated by crime spikes and the fear that Obama will tighten gun laws.

A State Police spokesman estimates the number of applications to obtain firearms has doubled over the past five months. Nationwide, FBI background checks for permits totaled 1.5 million in November, the highest figure since they began tracking the stats in 1998. The number includes first-time buyers and owners expanding their collection.

"Firearms are in the public eye and people want to try it out," says Lateif Dickerson, director of the New Jersey Firearms Academy in Jersey City. "We're seeing a large upswing in attendance at our basic pistol class. A lot of people don't own a gun yet; many of them have never even fired a gun. They just want to try it because there's a sense that the laws are going to change.

"They want to start before that happens."
Target shooting as a hobby

The New Jersey gun scene has changed dramatically since the November closure of Ray's Sports Shop in North Plainfield, a landmark for shooting enthusiasts with its own firing range. Cerca says displaced customers are flocking to the Bullet Hole. His shop and Ramsey Outdoor in Ramsey are two of the area's biggest surviving suppliers of handguns.

From Cerca's perspective, the simple act of purchasing a firearm (they run an average of $500-$800 at the Bullet Hole) sends a message to Washington. "People have no faith in the government and they feel powerless. So they buy a gun."

While gun laws were not a big campaign issue, many people fear the change in administrations ultimately may lead to new restrictions.

Obama favors reinstating the Clinton-era ban on assault weapons, according to a policy statement on the White House website. The administration also wants to push legislation making it mandatory for manufacturers to childproof firearms.

Ivan Perdomo, a Jersey City medical educator, says he sensed after the election that he only had so much time before firearms became less accessible and more expensive.

"I knew that the president was going to come out strong against guns," says Perdomo, 38, who keeps his .22-caliber pistol in a safe at his home. He studied with Dickerson last fall and now shoots in competition as a hobby.

"There's a feeling that if you don't do it now, you won't be able to later. I recommended the class to friends. One of them never even thought about purchasing a firearm, but now they're interested. Guns are misunderstood and unless you train, you don't have a full understanding of it and a respect for it," says Perdomo.

New Jersey is rigid in its regulation of firearms ownership and sales. Assault weapons have been banned since 1990 and vendors at special events must be registered as dealers, so there's no "gun show loophole" on background checks. Handgun permits are restricted to people 21 or older. And about 12 percent of homeowners have a firearm, according to a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.

In states such as Montana, Alaska and Mississippi, there are guns in more than half of households. Here, though, laws are so strict that federal measures would just reinforce the rules we already have, says National Rifle Association safety instructor Anthony Colandro. The uptick in purchases, he feels, is rooted in anxiety that transcends fine print in criminal code.

"People want to feel like they're captain of the ship, and it is our constitutional right to own firearms," says Colandro, who runs a Belleville training center called Gun for Hire, across the street from the Bullet Hole.

Melissa Merwin, a Belleville paralegal, attended Colandro's basic pistol class earlier this month to practice with her Smith & Wesson .380 subcompact.

"These days you can never be too careful," says Merwin, 26. "Even though I look at gun culture as a hobby or sport, I am a single young woman living on my own, and I am comforted by the fact that I own a gun to protect myself and my home."

Fear of home invasion is also driving guns sales, Colandro says, and there's more initiative for people to protect their valuables when retirement savings are vanishing in a puff of subprime smoke.

"We can't teach classes fast enough," says Maria Alampi, an NRA instructor who runs a combination training center and cooking school called Stir and Shoot in Sandyston. "People are coming out of the woodwork for pistol classes and private lessons. Because the economy is not doing well, people are concerned about crime and changes in the gun laws. I got a call from a store in Pennsylvania that sold out all of their handguns in a single day after the election."

Rockaway psychiatrist Lee Suckno says buying a gun can create a sense of control, especially in a climate where people feel so vulnerable, whether it's a lack of job security, a fear of losing their home or unease with the new political administration.

"Things are unstable," Suckno says. "People are afraid of Obama. The guy fired the head of General Motors. I can see why they are getting antsy about their guns."

Some of the cliches about gun owners are falling as the demographic broadens. Colandro says so many women are interested in buying guns that he has started hosting "ladies night" gatherings.

Steve Elber of Montclair also says that there is more diversity in the gun community than the "mainstream media" depicts. "I am a college-educated Democrat and a Jew," says Elber, an antique gun collector and master control technician.

He adds that there's an element of hypocrisy among gun control advocates and those calling to reinstate the assault weapons ban.

"The politicians who campaign for the ban are surrounded by security details with fully automatic weapons," Elber says. "They're protected, yet they don't want citizens to have a revolver for self-defense."

Cerca cites one other reason people may be buying guns now -- it's an investment.

Stocks continue to soar and dive, he notes, and real estate is as solid as a sponge. This has led consumers back to staples, guns and gold.

"The 401(k) is history, but the resale value of firearms is high," he says. "People, they love their guns. They love to shoot. If they can't afford to shoot five boxes of ammo, they'll shoot one. But they're not about to give up their guns."