By REED WILLIAMS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER



Sales of ammunition were so brisk Saturday on the first day of the Richmond Gun Show that Terry Coffman said he didn't have much left to sell yesterday.

"Everybody's scared to death," said Coffman, a salesman for Georgia Arms in Villa Rica, Ga., adding that sales for the business have skyrocketed in the past two weeks. "I appreciate the Democrats completely, because they sell more guns and ammo than anyone else has for us."

Fears that President-elect Barack Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will tighten restrictions on firearms have prompted gun aficionados nationwide to rush out and buy firearms. That trend played out over the weekend during the gun show at the Richmond Raceway Complex in Henrico County, which saw higher-than-usual attendance.

But Alice Mountjoy, government-relations coordinator for the Virginia Center for Public Safety, a gun-control advocacy group, said people who are afraid of Obama's politics are being paranoid, noting that the president-elect has said he respects the Second Amendment.

Last month, there was a 15 percent increase in the number of background checks for gun purchases nationwide, compared with the year before, according to The Associated Press. The number was up about 8 percent for the year as of Oct. 26.

In Virginia, there was a 22.8 percent spike in background checks in October, compared with the same month in 2007, said Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. And there was an increase of about 12 percent in the number of checks from the first of this year through Nov. 1, compared with the same period last year.

Geller said the higher volume is causing delays in state background checks.

Several gun dealers yesterday said they have seen a spike in sales over the past month that they attribute in part to worries about an Obama administration, and some customers echoed that sentiment. Promoters of the Richmond Gun Show, likewise, were thanking Obama and the Democrats for the more than 5,700 people who attended the two-day show that ended yesterday. About 4,000 people attended last November.

Farmville resident Ian Brock, a target-shooting competitor who owns more than 50 guns, was looking at a $4,300 sniper rifle and said Obama's victory might have persuaded him to spend the money.

Billy Shinn of Gloucester County was toting an M-14 rifle he bought at the gun show, the same type of gun he used in the Vietnam War.

"I think he really and truly wants to take away the right to own guns," Shinn said of Obama. "He doesn't think we need them."

Shinn said he disagrees with the economic bailout, adding that there might come a time when people would be compelled to rise up.

"One of these days, we're going to have a skirmish -- civil war, whatever," he said. "The economy, the politics -- the whole nine yards is coming to a head."

Mountjoy said such fears might sell guns, but they don't reflect the views of the general public.

Some of yesterday's customers said their interests in the rows of handguns, assault rifles and other weapons had nothing to do with politics. Henrico resident Joe Rios said he wants to buy a handgun for target practice with friends.

"I think they're cool," he said. "I like to play with them. Don't want to hurt nobody, that's for sure."

Obama said he favors common-sense gun laws. As a U.S. senator, he voted to leave gun makers and dealers open to lawsuits. As an Illinois state legislator, he supported a ban on all forms of semiautomatic assault weapons and tighter restrictions generally on firearms. He has also indicated support for closing the so-called gun-show loophole, which allows sales of firearms between private individuals at gun shows without criminal background checks being required.

Annette Elliott, a promoter for the Richmond Gun Show, is placing newspaper advertisements for a gun show next week in Chantilly using the slogan "Get your guns while you still can."

"We're actually scared," Elliott said. "We're going to have so many people."
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.