After the horrific massacre in Lewiston, sales of firearms in Maine increased dramatically.
Fox Business reports that some Lewiston-area gun stores had sales increases of up to 200%.
“We were swamped yesterday,” Ryan Gagnon, co-owner of 3 Cousins Firearms in Lewiston, told Fox News Digital.
Gagnon is also a Navy veteran.
“Our sales were up, I would say, over 200% compared to a typical Friday,” he added.
“Gun sales in the Lewiston, Maine, area spiked as much as 200% after Wednesday’s mass shooting that claimed at least 18 lives and injured 13 more, one store owner said.” https://t.co/maX5WJuquC
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) October 28, 2023
Fox Business reports:
They didn’t plan to open their store because of the shelter-in-place order that turned the city into a ghost town reminiscent of the COVID shutdowns.
But Gagnon, whose shop about half a mile from one of the crime scenes, said they received so many messages and Facebook messages that they felt like they had to open the shop.
Maine is very well known for firearm deer hunting, which started this weekend, but Gagnon said customers weren’t looking for hunting weapons.
“It was all self-defense stuff,” he said.
Tony Lewis, the owner of T and K Tactical in Augusta, told the Portland Press Herald that he did more business Thursday “than I did all of last month.”
“People are scared,” he told the local outlet.
“Law enforcement’s pretty focused on finding this person, so if (civilians) call for assistance, they’re probably not going to get it right away. So they want to make sure they can protect themselves,” he added.
Portland Press Herald reports:
At 3 Cousins Firearms in Lewiston, less than a mile and a half from Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant where one of the two shootings took place, customers were lining up to buy guns early Friday morning.
“It’s a madhouse,” said Trevor Brooks, a worker at the store.
Nearly 47% of Mainers in 2022 were registered gun owners, according to the Pew Research Center, ranking the state 22nd in the country.
Elias Bassile, the general manager of the Maine Ammo Company in Sanford, said he didn’t notice an increase in business at the store the ammunition manufacturer operates. But he did see an increase in requests from other stores to help with their ammunition supply Thursday and Friday.
“People keep wanting ammo, but they’ve always wanted ammo,” said Bassile, who officially filed paperwork earlier this month to run against Democrat Chellie Pingree in 2024 for her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. “I do suspect that there are folks out there that are running around trying to get more ammunition because they’re scared. I have no doubt of that. No doubt.”
Biden’s administration has used the tragedy in Maine to call for stricter gun control measures.
According to the Daily Mail, Joe Biden called the Maine tragedy “another senseless and tragic mass shooting.”
“Today, in the wake of yet another tragedy, I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack,” Biden said.
BREAKING: Biden condemns ‘tragic’ Maine shooting, urges assault weapons ban
READ: https://t.co/J3hwLMGgQF pic.twitter.com/d7B4VjvLdj
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 26, 2023
Kamala Harris on Tuesday called for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.
“Congress must have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban,” Harris said.
The Maine shooting occurred Wednesday night.
Congress must have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban. pic.twitter.com/aqdXIIdfZ5
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 24, 2023
In the wake of the shooting, Biden said, “Who the h*** needs high-capacity assault weapons?”
NBC News reported:
President Joe Biden on Friday night harshly criticized the use of high capacity assault weapons in his first public remarks on gun violence following this week’s shooting in Maine that left at least 18 people dead.
Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Washington, D.C., Biden asked: “Who the hell needs an assault weapon that can hold, in some cases, up to 100 rounds?”
Without referring to the Lewiston shootings directly, Biden said it was “outrageous what’s happening.”
Just seeing Joe smile makes me want to run out and get a pistol.
The only thing lacking from him is a set of horns.
You are better off getting yourself and your self-defense weapons, as it will take the police at least 5 minutes to react to your 911 call.
