PEOPLE USE TAX REFUNDS TO BUY GUNS

MY FOX, ORLANDO
By Valerie Boey

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) -
Forget about paying the bills with your tax refund,
some are heading to the gun shop instead. Over at Shoot Straight
employees say more people are taking a shot at a owning a gun,
thanks to Uncle Sam, "This is tax time and people are getting their
tax returns or they're expecting to get their money back and they
take a punch and make a purchase. Combine the uncertain times
with the extra cash people are getting and these are the ingredients
for good gun sales." Employee Charles O'Meara says politics help
motivate sales, "In a presidential election year there's always
a little bit of uncertainty. The Obama years we thought we'd
hit high water marks that we'd never touch again and this year
we're going beyond that."

As people debate the Stand Your Ground law, many worry
about losing the right to own a gun, "Any time people feel their
Second Amendment rights might be taken away or altered,
they get concerned and buy the guns that they can buy now,
while they can."

Charles says more women are also buying guns, he says the pink guns
are especially popular, "15% of our new buyers are women and that's growing.
They're sizing the guns for the women."

Charles tells us, guns can often keep much of their value, "Say you
bought a gun for $300 a few years ago and sold it for $200 a couple
of years later. For $100 you rented that gun for two years, you had
pride in ownership and you got to do it."

According to the National Rifle Association, there are around 60 million
gun owners nationwide. Charles says, it's inundating gun makers,
"Manufacturers have had a hard time keeping up with demand. They're buying guns for all sorts of reasons."