From latzko@ns1.rutgers.edu Sun Dec 5 13:30:55 1993 Received: from portal.unix.portal.com by jobe (4.1/1.34) id AA09665; Sun, 5 Dec 93 13:30:54 PST Received: from demon by portal.unix.portal.com (1.874) id AA13403; Sun, 5 Dec 93 13:30:53 -0800 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com by demon.corp.portal.com (4.1/ 1.20) id AA07717; Sun, 5 Dec 93 13:30:33 PST Received: by nova.unix.portal.com (5.65b/4.1 1.575) id AA26841; Sun, 5 Dec 93 13:30:50 -0800 Received: by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA16190; Sun, 5 Dec 93 16:21:29 EST Received: from rodan.UU.NET by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA16169; Sun, 5 Dec 93 16:21:21 EST Received: from relay2.UU.NET by rodan.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-mail-drop) id AA07885; Sun, 5 Dec 93 16:21:19 -0500 Received: from runner.utsa.edu (via runner.jpl.utsa.edu) by relay2.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA10747; Sun, 5 Dec 93 16:21:17 -0500 Received: from ringer.cs.utsa.edu.sunset by runner.utsa.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA18741; Sun, 5 Dec 93 15:21:14 CST Received: by ringer.cs.utsa.edu.sunset (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA21854; Sun, 5 Dec 93 15:21:14 CST Newsgroups: info.firearms.politics Path: lonestar.utsa.edu!whughes From: whughes@lonestar.utsa.edu (William W. Hughes) Subject: San Antonio Express-News, Page 1, 5 Dec. 93 Message-Id: <1993Dec5.212109.21818@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> Followup-To: talk.politics.guns Summary: Gun sales booming Keywords: guns sales Brady San Antonio Sender: news@ringer.cs.utsa.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: lonestar.utsa.edu Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio Distribution: info Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1993 21:21:09 GMT Apparently-To: info-firearms-politics@mail.uu.net Content-Length: 6551 Status: R >From the Sunday, 5 December 1993, San Antonio Express-News, page 1 (below the fold). Reproduced without permission. Transcribed by hand, so all typos are likely mine (I gotta get a scanner...). (Also being posted to talk.politics.guns, so don't bother forwarding it. Thanks, WWH) [begin] GUN BUYERS ON SHOPPING SPREE By Adolfo Pesquera Express-News Staff Writer Weapons dealers were in a holiday mood Saturday as looming gun controls fueled a last-minute shopping spree for hassle-free handgun purchases. Dealers at weekend gun shows were doing brisk business as the demand for weapons soars in response to a new federal handgun law and the threat of a ban on assault-style weapons next year. On Wednesday, President Clinton signed the Brady Bill -- which requires a five-day waiting period and background check for handgun purchases -- calling it "one step in taking back our streets." But some local gun sellers dismissed the legislation as ineffec- tive for crime control. Mike Morris, promoter of the Texas Weapon Collectors Gun Shows, said he expected up to 10,000 people would attend the gun show held Saturday and Sunday at the Convention Center, one of two shows in progress over the weekend in San Antonio. "The law goes after people who trade in guns lawfully and does nothing to go after the criminals," Morris said. [Accompanying color picture shows a dealer and customer at a table which holds a rack of shotguns & rifles, and several pistols in boxes. Caption: 'Brooks Cargile, a dealer at the SAXET gun show on Broadway, appraises a pistol Saturday owned by Robert Stilwell of Kingsbury.' The pistol appears to be a .38 revolver with about a four or five inch barrel.] [Story continues on page 23] "Look at the people lined up," he said of the crowd members waiting to pay $5 to enter the show. "These are grass-roots Texans. Look at that man there. He's a farmer; so is the one next to him." Morris said undercover off-duty police officers roam the floor to keep an eye on any possible gang members and sales to minors. All minors must be accompanied by their parents, he said. "Criminals will do what they've always done all along -- buy their guns on the street, and those are stolen, or break into some- one's house and steal them," Morris said. Other dealers at the show said they did not believe the law would hinder their trade when it goes into effect Feb. 28. "The Brady bill's making me rich, right now!" exulted Wayne, a gun dealer from Grandview who declined to give his last name. The Grandview dealer claimed to have grossed $82,000 last weekend at a gun show in Pasadena. "You tell the common man he can't have something or he can't do something and that gets him in an uproar," Wayne said. "We're selling a lot of handguns to first-time buyers. They've got no idea what they've got, they just want two of them. "Across the country, wholesalers are running out. There's a wholesaler in Ohio I deal with that just unplugged their phones. I've never seen that happen." A Nov. 19 Senate vote to ban the manufacture or importation of assault-style weapons also has fueled the skyrocketing sales of those guns, dealers say. The House has yet to agree to the ban on assault-style weapons and won't address the issue until after Congress reconvenes Jan. 25. "I had a few (assault weapons). I sold them out immediately," said Hubert Trial, owner of HTG's Old Fort Trading Post at 750 N. Gen. McMullen. "People are asking if we have them but they're just about impossible to get. If you do find them, the prices have gone way up." One dealer who was selling Colt AR-15 assault-style rifles at $650 three weeks ago said they were going for $1,000 now. Buyers are even searching in businesses that don't normally trade in assault weapons. "I used to get a couple of calls a week for assault-style weap- ons," said Al Cavazos, a pawn shop owner who deals mostly with jewel- ry. "Now I get five or 10 calls a day for them." Gun dealers, whether operating from gun shops, pawn shops or gun shows, see the Brady law as just another bureaucratic headache. Federal firearms licenses would go from $30 for three years to $200 for three years, and while no one is happy about that, it isn't expected to hurt profits. "There are quite a number of licensed firearms dealers that are dealing out of their homes. They have the license as a convenience, so they can buy guns from wholesalers across state lines. It may have an effect on them, unless they buy in large amounts," Trial said. But Morris said many such dealers have told them they simply will stop getting the licenses and deal as private citizens. "There's no law against it. Look at the classified section in newspapers. A man can set up a business and sell weapons out of his house," Morris said. Whether from a booth or as pedestrians milling through the crowds, many unlicensed gun enthusiasts do business at gun shows as well, he said. "Up to 20 percent of my exhibitors are off-duty law enforcement officers," he said. Dealers believe much of the general public's rush to buy is based on uncertainty. What exactly the background check will entail is still a mystery. "I'm getting asked a lot of questions, and I don't know the answers," said David Day, manager for The Powderhorn gun shop at 2412 S.W. Loop 410. Brian Henneberry, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Washington, said the agency doesn't know itself how the law will be enforced. "We were given 90 days to enact it," Henneberry said. "We're still mapping out a strategy, getting all the forms together." Morris predicted the most drastic effect of the Brady law will be felt by law enforcement agencies. "I've talked to several police departments, and they tell me they're so understaffed now they can't do checks on every gun show, pawn shop, and every other store with gun sales," he said. [end] -- whughes@lonestar.utsa.edu (William Hughes) | In memory of 85 un-charged, UTSA doesn't agree with me. They're wrong. | un-convicted victims of the U.S. Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants | government in Waco, Texas - Politically Incorrect and proud of it! | including over 20 children.