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Petrified by shooting sprees, shoppers turn to handguns and concealed-carry permits
by Melissa Quinn | August 10, 2019 12:01 AM
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/alarmed-by-shooting-sprees-shoppers-turn-to-handguns-concealed-carry-permits

The pair of mass shootings this month in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have pushed regulation of firearms, whether on store shelves or in the homes of private individuals, back into the national spotlight.

At the same time, in weapons shops around the country, the tragedies have drawn new customers rushing to buy handguns and sign up for concealed-carry classes out of fear that one day, they may have to protect themselves in a mass shooting.

“People are afraid,” said Ed Flores, owner of Tactical Hunter in El Paso, where 22 people were killed and dozens more injured in an attack at a Walmart. “El Paso is a very easy-going town, we have a very low crime rate, and nobody would ever expect something like that happening here. Our people are taking protection into their own hands.”

While the mass shooting, coupled with the killing of nine people in a Dayton, Ohio, entertainment district less than a day later, brought immediate calls for Congress to require universal background checks on buyers and ban assault weapon, any action is unlikely until at least September when lawmakers return from their summer breaks.

In the meantime, gun shops are helping customers to find handguns they can keep with them in case of emergency and obtain the training required to conceal them in purses or under jackets while in public.

“With things going on nowadays, even the best police department in the world is still going to have a response time, and with the proper training and being able to conceal a firearm like a smaller handgun, your reaction time is seconds,” said Ryan Ballard, general manager of The Wichita Gun Club in Wichita, Kansas.