Bay Area Firearms in Burlingame sees boom in business after Orlando shooting

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ByVic Lee KGO logo
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Bay Area Firearms sees boom in business after Orlando shooting
In the aftermath of the Orlando shootings gun sales and firearms classes are booming. This comes as stricter gun control bills wind their way through the political process.

BURLINGAME, Calif. (KGO) -- In the aftermath of the Orlando shootings gun sales and firearms classes are booming. This comes as stricter gun control bills wind their way through the political process.

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"The phones just won't stop ringing at Bay Area Firearms in Burlingame, one of the largest training businesses of its kind in the Bay Area. This, while new shipments of firearms continue to arrive.

Owner Scott Jackson says they train on average 250 people a month. And business, he says, has gone through the roof since the mass shootings in Orlando.

On Monday, Jackson says he sold 50,000 rounds of ammunition. His classroom bookings are also skyrocketing, a phenomenon that seems to happen after mass shootings.

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"My crews are working on father's day," he said. "Quadruple booked. And it's all families. Everybody wants AR-15s and handguns."

The AR-15 is the target of gun control advocates who want them and other semiautomatic rifles banned across the country. And Congresswoman Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, is leading that campaign in the House.

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"Criminals and persons who shouldn't have guns can go on the internet or get them in personal or private sales or get them at gun sales," she said.

But gun owners say gun control advocates are trampling on the Second Amendment. They say that guns don't kill, people do

"If somebody runs somebody off the road with a Ferrari rather than a Chevy pickup truck, doesn't make any sense to bar Ferraris," said lawyer Don Kilmer. "It was the vehicle that was used as the tool.

Meantime, the flurry of gun control legislation continues, which includes background checks for ammo purchases and the banning of large capacity magazines.

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Click here for full coverage on the deadly mass shooting in Orlando.