Local Gun Store Sees A Major Spike In Business
By: Casie Mason
Updated: January 12, 2013
The gun control issue is making it's way to the Tri-State and a local business is feeling the impact. Whittaker guns in Owensboro is trying to keep up with a huge increase in customers since the gun control debate resurfaced. The owners of Whittaker Guns tells me this is the largest increase in business they have ever seen. They say some customers have even started camping over night in the parking lot, worrying stricter gun laws may take some of those firearms off the shelves.
"In my lifetime, I've never seen them go this crazy for guns," says buyer Dennis LeFan. "They're usually pretty busy, but this busy? It's crazy. There is probably twice as many if not three times as many people in here now than there used to be," says Whittaker customer Wesley Vincent. "You've got to kind of wait to move around al little bit to actually look at what you want to look at, but as far as service and stuff, it's the same. Those guys really help you out here," says Whittaker customer Jonathan McQuinn.
Whittaker guns in Owensboro is doing it's best to keep up with all these people. "There are people camping in the parking lot every night to be the first people here. We're buying at a more rapid pace than we have bought in four years," says store employee Chuck Fulkerson. So what gives? Whittaker employees say many current issues around the country could be responsible for this major a spike in business. "Elections always peak gun sales. Shootings and different things that happen in public things are always something that makes other people want to attack the second amendment and automatically you've got gun sales," adds Fulkerson."Tax time is coming up. That is usually when their orders kick in a lot. That's when they start getting new items here. Plus the second amendment, everything going on with the gun ban, and everything, what is supposedly going to happen. Everyone is scared. They want to get what they can while they can," says McQuinn. These issues may be out of their hands, but those here at Whittaker know keeping customers happy is the name of the game. "We have a fire code. Even today we have said, if you're finished could you leave so someone else can come in when we've meet capacity," says Fulkerson.
These lines may not be going away anytime soon, but employees say their customers have the right to bear arms."The political climite is something we have no control over. What we do as a business, is just what we do as a business. But we do it with a conscience. I think the conscious factor is here, and it's always been here."Vice President Biden held a meeting to discuss the issue of gun safety. So far the government has not made any changes to the current laws.
"In my lifetime, I've never seen them go this crazy for guns," says buyer Dennis LeFan. "They're usually pretty busy, but this busy? It's crazy. There is probably twice as many if not three times as many people in here now than there used to be," says Whittaker customer Wesley Vincent. "You've got to kind of wait to move around al little bit to actually look at what you want to look at, but as far as service and stuff, it's the same. Those guys really help you out here," says Whittaker customer Jonathan McQuinn.
Whittaker guns in Owensboro is doing it's best to keep up with all these people. "There are people camping in the parking lot every night to be the first people here. We're buying at a more rapid pace than we have bought in four years," says store employee Chuck Fulkerson. So what gives? Whittaker employees say many current issues around the country could be responsible for this major a spike in business. "Elections always peak gun sales. Shootings and different things that happen in public things are always something that makes other people want to attack the second amendment and automatically you've got gun sales," adds Fulkerson."Tax time is coming up. That is usually when their orders kick in a lot. That's when they start getting new items here. Plus the second amendment, everything going on with the gun ban, and everything, what is supposedly going to happen. Everyone is scared. They want to get what they can while they can," says McQuinn. These issues may be out of their hands, but those here at Whittaker know keeping customers happy is the name of the game. "We have a fire code. Even today we have said, if you're finished could you leave so someone else can come in when we've meet capacity," says Fulkerson.
These lines may not be going away anytime soon, but employees say their customers have the right to bear arms."The political climite is something we have no control over. What we do as a business, is just what we do as a business. But we do it with a conscience. I think the conscious factor is here, and it's always been here."Vice President Biden held a meeting to discuss the issue of gun safety. So far the government has not made any changes to the current laws.
