Gun show in Northeast Philadelphia does brisk business

The parking lot at the National Guard Armory was full, and so was the grassy field used as an overflow lot. Lines stretched out the door. Inside, attendees squeezed through narrow aisles - past mothers pushing babies in strollers, past burly men in camouflage, past long rows of tables displaying knives and holsters and ammunition and handguns and semiautomatic rifles.

Saturday marked the first of Philadelphia's five scheduled gun shows this year, and by midafternoon, the crowd at the National Guard Armory in Northeast Philadelphia showed no signs of diminishing. Vendors said they were having a banner day, with semiautomatic weapons especially popular at some stalls.

A similar show was canceled last week in Harrisburg after protests erupted in response to plans by the promoter to ban the sale of certain firearms at the event.

Those firearms - some of which once fell under the now-defunct federal assault weapons ban - could be banned again under legislation proposed last week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.). That possibility hung heavy over Saturday's event in Philadelphia.

"That was in our heads - that if they're going to start changing [the law], we should do it now," Mike Stout, 48, of Northeast Philadelphia, said.

His son Bryan, 23, was shopping for a handgun; his younger son Michael, 11, who hunts with a youth shotgun, was also in tow. Stout owns a rifle and enjoys hunting with his sons, he said.

"[Stricter regulations] are not necessary - it's blaming inanimate objects," said Howard Rohrbach, who runs PSFSDINC, a small-arms supply dealership in Wyomissing. Business on Saturday was booming - "I've never seen a decrease in sales since Obama was elected," he said.

Other attendees Saturday said they weren't bothered by stricter gun regulations and were shopping for hunting or self-defense. Joe Hemwood, 65, had just bought a .22-caliber Mossberg rifle for his 18-year-old grandson Daniel Hinds. The two were planning to go to a gun range to try it out Sunday.

"I don't believe they have the support in Congress," said Hemwood, an Oxford Circle resident. "I don't want to say anything negative about the president, but I don't think he has the support from the people."

Guns on sale Saturday ran the gamut from antique pistols to semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15-style rifle used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. One AR-15 model, prominently displayed at a vendor's table, was painted bright pink. Attendees pushed through crowds clustering around handgun displays and weaved around lines of customers awaiting background checks. (Gun-show dealers must perform background checks for anyone purchasing a firearm.)

Behind the table at the Zeller's Sporting Goods booth, Samuel Fletcher said the Throop, Pa., store had been doing steady business all day.

"Honestly, as a salesperson, it's boosting business," he said and laughed. "But the very idea that our rights would be questioned is appalling."

Fletcher said high-capacity magazine clips - including drum-style ammunition magazines that can hold up to 75 rounds - and AR-15s were hot commodities. The rifles typically sell for $1,000 or more. One man hoping to land a private sale of his own AR-15 said he'd seen the rifles priced at up to $2,300.

Guns weren't the only thing on sale at Saturday, with vendors hawking earrings made of ammunition rounds and Tasers disguised as cigarette packs. At least two stalls sold homemade beef jerky.

Organizers said turnout had dramatically increased and that about 25 licensed gun dealers were on hand.

Standing behind a rack of rifles, Bob Seebach of Bonnie's Guns in Chambersburg, said he was careful to run background checks on customers and was committed to gun safety. Still, when it came to increased gun regulations, he was hard-pressed to see what all the fuss was about.

"I've been surrounded by guns all my life, and I've never had one shoot at me yet," he said.