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http://www.go.com/Content?col=NX&arn=a1899rittz-19991027&dbid=4&CAT=TECH&ak=news501&kt=A
Gun Industry Sees Boom From A Different Y2k Crisis 01:40 p.m Oct 27, 1999 Eastern By Andrea Orr PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Among the many Internet sites
outlining ways citizens should prepare for 2000, one called Y2Kchaos.com
suggests why those living near prisons might find it useful to have a gun or
two:
``Doors swinging open, alarms shutting down, locks going slack
and so forth,'' reads a Q&A section on the site http://www.y2kchaos.com below the question,
``What is going to happen to the inmates?''
The discussion goes on to say that malfunctioning locks and
alarms might not be as big a problem as prison guards who fail to report to work
when they have to fend for themselves in the general mayhem that is unleashed
with the new year.
``If the guards don't show up or are poorly administered ...
then it doesn't matter what the specific breakdowns might or might not be,
inmates are coming out,'' it warns.
Most Americans are not buying it but a small segment of the
population is. Whether their concern is prison inmates set free by a computer
glitch, food supplies cut off by a collapse in the transportation network,
general mayhem or merely prudent preparation for the unknown, Y2K worries are
leading some gun owners to buy more and others to buy guns for the first time.
``They're buying everything: handguns, rifles and shotguns,''
said a salesman in FirePower, a Matthews, North Carolina, gun shop that reports
one of the largest Y2K-related surges in business seen among merchants.
BUYING GUNS, AMMO -- 'CYA LOGIC'
The salesman said as many as 40 percent of the shop's clients
are also buying extra ammunition to be prepared for the new year. ``They don't
know what to expect, but no one can give anyone a clear idea that nothing's
going to happen,'' he said. ''So they're going by CYA logic: cover your ass.''
In New York, Patriot Firearms says most customers are not
worried about the Y2K computer glitch but some of its employees are. ``It's
mostly people who work here. They're saying, 'You never know ... better safe
than sorry,''' store manager Aaron Kim said.
Gary Winstead, who on another Y2K survival site -- http://www.alpinesurvival.com --
recommends that people arm themselves with powerful ``survival rifles,'' says he
has seen some evidence they are heeding the warning.
``While viewing many gun shows over the years, I have noticed
a whole different crowd in the last few months,'' he wrote in response to an
e-mail query.
``There are many more family types, Dad and Mom shopping for a
firearm together. I have also noticed more single women purchasing handguns. ...
Gun shows used to consist almost entirely of middle-aged and older men.''
For all the gun sellers who report a Y2K-related surge in
sales, there appear to be more who have seen little or no impact from public
concern about the millennium computer bug, which could cause many older
computers to read the year 2000 as 1900, causing them to produce incorrect data
or shut down.
But they report a different kind of event is helping make 1999
one of their best years in recent memory: gun control.
Seasoned gun dealers who have worked in different political
climates know that nothing drives sales so much as concern that the government
is about to restrict gun purchases. In the past, sales have been brisk in years
when the federal government enacted laws making it harder to buy a gun, and this
year fear of tighter gun controls seems to be providing more incentive to
stockpile than any fear of a computer glitch.
TALK OF CONTROL LEADS TO GUN PURCHASES
A spot survey of gun stores around the country suggests 1999
has been a very good year for the industry. But computer failure seems less of a
factor than Columbine, the high school massacre that caught the world's
attention last spring and was followed by a series of shootings around the
United States in public places from office buildings to day care centers.
The killings got Americans talking seriously about gun
control. And, said Timothy Conder, a financial analyst at A.G. Edwards who
tracks Southport, Connecticut-based gun maker Sturm, Ruger & Co., ``Whenever
there's talk of legislation, people buy a lot of guns.
Comprehensive nationwide data on gun sales is hard to come by
because of the fragmented nature of the industry, comprised of many mom-and-pop
stores and local gun shows. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms data is
outdated and the National Rifle Association declined to comment on any surge in
sales.
Jack Gibben, spokesman for the President's Council on Y2K
Conversion, said, ``It's probably likely that a certain segment of the
population is (stockpiling guns), but it's not a trend we've seen on any grand
scale.''
But A.G. Edwards' Conder says Sturm Ruger, which makes a
variety of guns for hunting and law enforcement and, as a publicly traded
company, is required to report its results, has seen a 23 percent increase in
its year-to-date sales.
Recent price increases there, as well as the company's 50th
anniversary this year, are given credit for part of that, but Conder says fear
of stricter gun controls is also a factor.
The owner of a gun shop in rural Michigan says he has noticed
the same trend. Despite a 15-20 percent increase in sales this year, he says, he
has had ``very, very few'' customers worried about computer failure and
resulting chaos in the new millennium. Nor is he encouraging the Y2K survivalist
crowd.
``My impression of those people is that they need to get a
life,'' he said, asking not to be identified by name. ``I'm well versed in
computers and my son is out in Silicon Valley making a bajillion dollars in
computers.''
Not all retailers share his sentiments, especially those on
the Internet. Many online retailers have positioned their sites as places to get
not just hunting supplies but survival gear.
Omega Man Enterprises (http://www.omegamanenterprises.com)
boasts ``shocking low prices on over 4,000 items such as: Y2K supplies, survival
equipment, military surplus, night vision, camping gear, nitrogen packed
survival foods, body armor ...''
Miami-based Inter-American Security Products Inc., which sells
bulletproof vests, pepper spray and stun guns, uses this sales pitch on its Web
site (http://www.interamer.com): ``Get
ready for Y2K now and help avoid the recent year's tragedies! Protect yourself
and your loved ones!!''
SKS Parts (http://www.sksparts.com), which calls itself
the source for ``hard-to-find parts'' including AK47 automatic rifles, posts
this erroneous warning on its Web site: ''Confiscation of guns begins in
California on January 1, 2000 --- buy a gun LEGALLY! Before it's too late!''
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