California Retailer's Gun Safe Sales Soar 1,000% After Sandy Hook Shooting

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, one of the largest gun safe retailers in the southern California region has seen its sales soar by more than 1,000%.

Bo Peterson, the general manager of Dean Safe Company in Arleta, California, said his store “sold 105 gun safes in a five hour period” the Saturday after the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. Normally, Peterson said the store sells “seven to 10” gun safes on Saturdays.

Friends of Nancy Lanza, the mother of Sandy Hook murderer Adam, said “she had a lock box for her weapons, but it’s not clear if the guns used in the shootings were in it or if her son had access to it.”

“I truly believe gun safes, or safes in general, save lives on a daily basis,” Peterson, the general manager, said. 

[Adam Lanza] tried to purchase a gun legally, but was denied because he wasn’t old enough. He knew where the guns were. I just hate to think a gun safe could have, maybe not prevented (the massacre), but delayed it. But maybe someone would have seen something to stop it.”

Much of store’s showroom has been sold out, but more gun safes are on the way after the spike in demand.