HOUSTON - If you want a gun and if it's legal, Cris Parsons, the owner of Houston Armory, can get it for you.
But you might want to get it sooner, not later.
"Even the smallest parts are six to eight months back order. Even the little things, so it's getting very difficult to get a whole gun assembled and sell a complete gun because of a lack of parts," Parsons said.
He said it’s a repeat situation of 2009. Back then, fearful gun owners and wanna-be gun owners snapped up ammunition and weapons because they feared the then newly-elected president, Barack Obama, was going to try to ban gun sales.
It never happened, but that doesn't mean the fear of a ban went away.
"If he wins the election, he's got nothing to lose, so a lot of people think he's going to go after guns if he gets a second term," Parsons said.
The demand is so high that Sturm and Ruger, one of the country's largest manufacturers, has announced it is no longer accepting new orders. It got orders for a million guns in the first quarter of 2012, and the company needs time to catch up.
But Parsons said that's not the only thing spurring sales. There is a cultural phenomenon called "preppers". It's short for “doomsday preppers”. They are people who are trying to prepare for the end of the world.
"I've sold a bunch of gas masks," Parsons said.
Doomsday preppers do more than buy gas masks. They do things like store food, learn survival skills, build and stock hidden shelters.
“Doomsday Preppers” is also the name of a show on Natural Geographic. It shows different people preparing for a variety of disasters, natural and man made. Part of one episode was actually shot at Top Brass Military and Tactical Supply on the North Freeway.
Since the show aired, staff there says they've seen an up-tick in sales.
"Probably about a 30 percent increase," Oscar Saldivar said.
Saldivar said they sell everything but guns. They stock things like MREs, packs, water purification tablets and flash lights.
They help people assemble what's commonly referred to as "bug out bags" that typically carry three days worth of food and supplies. Survivalists, hunters and campers have always collected that kind of stuff, but the show has kicked off a fad.
"Very much so. Not to push the show but ever since ‘Doomsday Preppers’, we've seen an increase in demand."
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Black Blade: Good to see people are stocking up and learning new survival skills. It isn't so much that "the world is ending" but rather being prepared for tough times. I have lived off my preps a few times over the years when times got tough and I found myself unemployed. Prepping is just a common sense approach to life.
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Store Owner Links Rising Gun Sales to Obama, Doomsday
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