Massachusetts citizens have been buying more and more guns for years as requests for gun licenses have spiraled. Now, after the Connecticut school shooting, Class A permits which cover handguns, rifles and shotguns have risen 36%.
Bob Bernstein, who owns Bob’s Indoor Public Shooting Range in Salisbury, said, “Women, when we first opened up were almost non-existent. That was 23 years ago. Within the last 5-6 years, women who come in and shoot now are 30-35%.”
Candi Hogan is one example. She had never fired a gun before yesterday, but after the Connecticut massacre, she’s looking for a gun license and wants to teach her daughter Micaela to shoot and get a license, too:
I think it’s high time that I was informed, rather than be afraid. There may be a time I have to protect myself, my own family. There are guns in my house, if someone ever came in I didn’t know the first thing about using them, about loading a gun and putting it to use.
Bernstein said after Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 gun sales jumped because Obama was seen as pro gun-control.