AMARILLO, TEXAS -- According to the FBI, more than 1.5 million inquiries were made for background checks by gun dealers in December.
Nearly half a million were done the six days before Christmas.
"This last summer, in this particular area, gun sales were down because of the extreme heat, because people just weren't getting out and going to the shops," Panhandle Gunslingers Owner Burnie Stokes said. "At the end of October, November and December, we did have very good sales that helped overcome what we did in the summertime."
Stokes said he feels sales continue to increase become of economic growth spurts and also because people are facing "unrest" with the current political environment.
Panhandle Gunslingers often has a line of people out the door waiting to practice their aim. Some of them shoot to remain accurate should they ever have to pull the trigger at work. But most, according to Stokes, shoot purely for entertainment.
Regardless of the reason, all of the customers have one thing in common- they practice their American right to bear arms. And here in the South, that is a right the majority of people are not willing to give it.
