ORWIGSBURG - A local gun shop owner said his sales have increased since last week's school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"If I said it was minimal, I'd be lying" said Josh Shamonsky, owner of Shakey's Gun Shop, 202 E. Market St.
"In all honesty, I probably did more in the past six days (than) what I did in the past three months," he said of his gun sales while standing behind a counter in the shop Friday afternoon.
He said he thought some of that was due to the talk of a possible ban on assault-style weapons.
For example, sales of the DPMS AR-15, a modern sporting rifle, have been selling as quickly as he gets them in.
That weapon might not be available for sale if laws are changed, he said.
He said the weapon is classified as a semi-automatic and shoots one round per pull of the trigger. So far, he has sold about 100 since Dec. 12. Of those, he attributes "about 50 percent" to the discussion on a possible assault weapons ban.
On Dec. 14, Adam Lanza fatally shot his mother before blasting his way into the elementary school, killing 20 children and six teachers before fatally shooting himself. During the attack, Lanza used a military-style assault rifle and carried handguns, according to The Associated Press.
While a spike in gun sales is common after a mass shooting, the latest rampage has generated record sales in some states, particularly of assault weapons.
Colorado set a single-day record for gun background check requests the day after the shootings, while Nevada saw more checks in the two days that followed than any other weekend this year, according to The Associated Press. Records were also set in Tennessee, California and Virginia, among others.
Shamonsky said that when someone wants to purchase a gun, their driver's license is required, federal paperwork is completed and the state police are called. Once the check comes back OK, the sale can proceed, he said.
Of the shooting in Newtown, Shamonsky said it was a tragedy.
"Somebody who does something like that is a monster. They're not a human being," he said.
He doesn't think new laws are the answer.
"If they do more laws, it's only going to be more laws for the criminals to break," he said.
All gun purchases at the store require a background check but the law is slightly different for private sales.
"If you want to sell a rifle or a shotgun you may do that without going through the background check," said Gerald Gerhard, a volunteer at the store.
When selling privately in Pennsylvania, all handguns still need to be transferred through a dealer, who must complete a background check on the new owner. But state law does not require a check for private sales of long guns, like shotguns and rifles, according to a July 29 article in the Scranton Times-Tribune.
"Most people that sell privately know the people or know somebody that knows them and can vouch for them, and that's how it goes," Gerhard said. Anne Shamonsky, mother of Josh, said a woman was protesting outside the store last Saturday. She spoke to the woman, who later left.
Denise Groff, 39, a borough resident, owned two guns before she purchased a .22 Ruger, a small handgun.
She also owns a Smith and Wesson .357 titanium handgun and a Glock. She was buying the Ruger because she likes guns and the Ruger is less expensive to shoot when she goes target shooting.
The killing in Newtown was a "senseless tragedy," she said, adding that more attention needs to be paid to the mental health system.
The key to being a gun owner is "education and safety," Groff said.
Dawn Ruzanski was busy filling out her background check when her husband, Robert, 32, of Schuylkill Haven, showed her a .22 revolver in a small box.
"Take a look, Dawn," he said.
"Oh, wow," she replied.
The gun was small but would do the job of protecting her, she said.
Both their children, Brody, 4, and Skylar, 3 months, were with them.
Robert Ruzanski said he owns many guns and his wife wanted something to protect herself.
"If I could keep them safe all the time I would," he said while holding Brody.
Dawn Ruzanski said she considered buying a gun for a long time but the school shooting helped her make the decision. She said she agrees with the National Rifle Administration's reaction to the shooting.
On Friday, the NRA called for an armed guard to be present in every school in America to protect students, according to The Associated Press.
"It's heartbreaking. I look at my son and I thought it could have been him," Dawn Ruzanski said.