ST. LOUIS GUN STORES See Boom in Business Following Riots & Looting

Police Shooting Missouri
A looter jumps through a QuikTrip window during rioting on Sunday night in Ferguson, Missouri. (NY Post)

The BizJournal reported:

For the past two days, Steve King has been “unbelievably busy” at his gun store, Metro Shooting at 11434 St. Charles Rock Road. King said business spiked 50 percent as local residents respond to the violent events taking place in Ferguson.

“We’ve sold a variety of handguns, shotguns and AR-15s (a semi-automatic rifle),” King said. “All of the sales are having to do with home defense.”

King, who owns the store that has 17 employees and 2013 revenue of about $2 million, added that customers have ranged from new firearm buyers to those upgrading their current arsenal. He said both black and white individuals have purchased firearms at his store over the past few days.

“Usually it’s pretty slow through the summer, but this has been a huge spike for business,” King said. “People are hunkering down because those events are taking place too close to their own home … in some cases, a half a mile away. Lots of people are afraid.”

Officials at Mid America Arms, at 8205 Gravois Road, have seen a similar increase in business. Owner Al Rothweiler had to break away from his jammed-packed store this afternoon to talk to the Business Journal.

“We were closed Sunday and Monday, but today, sales have been brisk, and the store is full of people,” said Rothweiler, who estimated that his sales were also up 50 percent Tuesday compared with a typical day in August. “Everyone who bought today mentioned something about Ferguson.”

Before this week’s spike, Rothweiler said August had been a slow month for the $3.5 million business, but he doesn’t expect the spike to continue.

John Ham, public information officer for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Kansas City division that includes St. Louis, said he has not heard or seen any increase in firearms purchases for the area. Calls to the FBI requesting firearm background check statistics were not returned.

tattoo parlor
Mike Gutierrez (left) and Adam Weinstein (third from left) brought guns to guard their store during the riots in Ferguson last night. (River Front Times)

Photo of author
Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!