CHANTILLY, Va. — In the wake of the Orlando shooting, much of the conversation after the tragedy has centered around gun laws in the nation. The discussion about whether or not the United States needs stricter gun laws is sending more customers into some local gun stores.
Scott Wahl with 50 West Armory in Chantilly, Virginia, said one common misconception is that gun buyers are coming in because they fear that the government is going to take away the guns they already own.
“They’re afraid that legislation is going to change and then they are not going to be able to purchase those items anymore,” Wahl said.
It’s not uncommon, he added, to see customers visit gun stores more often when the national debate surrounds the topic of guns.
“The hot topic right now is AR-15 rifles, so of course we are gonna see a little bit of demand on those,” Wahl said.
In addition to the AR-15, the store is also seeing more people coming in to buy hand guns, shot guns and rifles.
Wahl said he noticed an increase in gun purchases hours after the Orlando attack, while the store participated in a gun show in Chantilly. For the store, business usually wanes during the final day of a weekend gun show, but on the Sunday of the Orlando shooting, the store saw its busiest day.
“We tend to connect that to the fact of what happened in Orlando,” he said.
