Dive Brief:
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Gun sales rose again in the U.S. and in California after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, CA, lifted in part by calls for greater limits to gun sales by President Barack Obama and others.
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If patterns hold, that could continue nationwide after the President Sunday night called for restrictions in his address on terrorism and demonstrations by gun-control advocates over the weekend.
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Black Friday gun and ammunition sales were especially healthy on Black Friday, before the California shooting occurred, spurred in part, experts said, by the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Dive Insight:
Mass shootings have a way of leading to increases in gun sales. Some consumers are motivated by what they see as a need for better protection and by concerns that public policy could change and make sales more difficult.
Limits on gun sales are looser in the U.S. than in many other industrialized nations, though there are loopholes for gun shows and independent dealers that many take advantage of. While Congress has failed to limit sales or tighten controls even after mass shootings like that in Sandy Hook, CT, three years ago, the White House is examining the possibility of taking executive action that might eliminate those exceptions.
But while the administration is looking into what it could do, any action would likely face challenges by Congress and in the courts.
“The knee jerk reaction of politicians is immediately after an event like this to take advantage of it for political goals and will try to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners,” Sam Paredes, spokesman for Gun Owners of America, told ABC. “So there is a natural rush to gun stores to purchase guns and ammunition.”
But it there are a few signs that public sentiment may begin to help change public policy. The New York Times, for example, took the rare step Saturday of publishing a front-page editorial calling for renewed efforts to re-examine gun policy in the U.S., saying in part that “politicians abet would-be killers by creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those politicians to keep their jobs.” Saturday also saw a number of pro-control demonstrations nationwide.