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An AR-15 assault rifle is shown at AZFirearms.com. (Jim Cross/KTAR

PHOENIX -- A Newtown, Conn. school shooting has apparently pushed Valley residents to purchase more firearms.

AZFirearms.com in Avondale saw sales over the weekend triple from the typical weekend. The big sellers were handguns and AR-15 semi-automatic rifles.

Cheryl Todd with AZFirearms.com said some of the rush could be the holiday shopping season, but not all. The customers were a mixture of people looking for personal protection and people who fear that gun restrictions are coming.

"Some people expressed to us that they wanted to buy a gun while they still can," she said. "We saw families shopping together. These are middle mainstream Americans, not people you would expect on the fringe."

Dan Todd said some customers are worried about the possibility of gun restrictions and new laws. He didn't see this level of sales or concern about gun restrictions following last summer's shootings at a theatre in Aurora, Colo.

Todd said he feels Americans are going to see an attempt to reinstitute the Clinton-era assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

"I don't know if [gun control advocates] are going to be successful," he said. "It's not needed, but that's what some people who are uneducated about firearms want to do."

Jim Cross, Reporter

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  • Abuse
    yrreta wrote...
    Micho
    December 18, 2012 6:16 am
    your comment is irrelevant due to the fact that the same could be said of the gun control people as well. It's a knee jerk reaction from both sides of the fence. That's what happens when you're reactive instead of proactive.
  • Abuse
    Michoacan wrote...
    My comment's right on the money. Gun nuts
    December 18, 2012 6:22 am
    are circling the wagons to protect their access to weapons of mass destruction, not the public's safety. I don't see them being proactive in offering useful ideas to keep future psychos from slaughtering classrooms and playgrounds full of tiny tots.
  • Abuse
    yrreta wrote...
    Again Micho
    December 18, 2012 6:55 am
    what have the gun control advocates been proactive on? For both sides this is a non-issue until either something terrible happens, or it's an election year. The tree is full of nuts, both pro and con. We had the assault weapon ban that expired in 2004, it would be interesting to see the statistics for crimes committed with assault weapons before, during and after the ban, to see how effective it was.
  • Abuse
    yrreta wrote...
    Can't blame the NRA for not
    December 18, 2012 7:29 am
    saying anything. No matter what they say, even if they have always preached responsible gun ownership and safety, they will offend someone and it will only add fuel to the already burning fires. Better to remain silent and be thought of as dumb, then to speak and remove all doubt. I am not a gun owner, have children in the house, but I do enjoy shooting and feel gun ownership is one of our rights we need to maintain for the responsible population.
  • Abuse
    Michoacan wrote...
    NRA should be blamed for its cowardly silence
    December 18, 2012 7:36 am
    on a matter which it usually claims as its exclusive purview. No such reticence displayed except when it thinks hiding under the cover will keep the gun control bogeyman away. As a lifelong gun owner, I understand that the issue is ensuring sound public policies that ensure public safety against irresponsible and criminal gun ownership.
  • Abuse
    yrreta wrote...
    Micho
    December 18, 2012 7:43 am
    thanks for proving my point. The NRA is condemned no matter what they do. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. It's a no win situation for them.
  • Abuse
    azsiouxboy wrote...
    Responsible gun owner here
    December 18, 2012 7:59 am
    and yes I am going gun shopping this weekend. Get the one I have wanted before that right is revoked. I wasn't planning on buying it until spring but I am not sure it will be available after this. Just because I like to target shoot and hunt does not make me a bad person. Instituting a ban now is like closing the barn door after the horse is out. Oh and btw the gun I want is a Henry .30-30 lever action steel round barrel 100% made in the USA hunting rifle.
  • Abuse
    OneWonders wrote...
    Hey yrreta
    December 18, 2012 8:16 am
    Because you are correct, your argument falls on deaf ears with Micho. And Micho, if you want to talk public safety, lets talk mental health too (mass shooters Loughner, Holmes and now Lanza...all with mental health issues). Lets talk Democratic Chicago gun ban and they are pushing 500 homicides this year(I think it was huffpost that had that article) which is up from the year before. Lets talk Eric Holder running guns to Mexico through straw purchasers but your such loved Obama is covering up. Ready...Talk...
    Equal Justice, Not Social Justice.
  • Abuse
    :) wrote...
    Mich, io..
    December 18, 2012 8:53 am
    Tiny tots????? really? These children were human beings, not some compressed ball of potatoes that we consume. Stop degrading these victims by refering to them as such. As for gun control, if guns were responsible for this cowards actions, then the spoon causes obesity, the car is responsible for drunk driving, the phone is responsible for accidents during texting. I feel that if they had one security guard, or School resource officer, the results would have far lessened. Stop blaming an inanimate object for a persons actions. By the way, my laptop is responsible for my spelling mistakes.
  • Abuse
    Michoacan wrote...
    The Republican Party, the party of mental health
    December 18, 2012 9:09 am
    care cuts, speaks laughably about addressing mental health care as a way of addressing the root causes of gun slaughter. Right. Republicans were delighted to in days past to open the doors of our costly and ineffective mental health institutions without providing support necessary to those former inmates. So please, give us a break. As to :(ing :), nothing degrading about referring to the tiny tots as such, except in your own mind. As to keeping inanimate but lethal guns out of the hands of psycho killers, most of the country sees that as a civic good, even if you don't.

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