PALMETTO -- Anthony Mikesell and his friend, Kevin Shahan, woke up early to drive from North Port to the Palmetto Gun Show at the Manatee Convention Center on Sunday to get some ammunition for Mikesell’s 9mm pistol.
The men said there is no 9mm ammunition available at any outlets in their area. In fact, they said it’s tough to find ammunition for any firearm or even find firearms for sale because so many people are buying them for home defense.
"I have a theory about that," Shahan said. "There's people out there starting all these conspiracy theories about people from overseas coming into our homes to try and kill us. On top of that there are the actual home invasions. Whatever the reasons, people like us, who just want to shoot, aren’t able to. People are buying guns and ammo like I have never seen."
At 8:45 a.m. Sunday, even before the North Port pair had arrived at the Civic Center, there was a line of nearly 100 waiting to get into the last day of the show in Palmetto, which started at 9 a.m. and was sponsored by the Suncoast Gun Show.
Although organizers of the event had no comment about how the show was doing or if sales are rising because of recent home invasions, those attending said sales were brisk.
"There were about 2,000 who attended an earlier show like this," said Bradenton's Tony Clark, who owns Paradise Ice Cream.
"It's amazing to me," Clark added. "The economy is bad, but it's not stopping them from buying guns. And a lot more females than I would have imagined are buying guns."
Read the complete story at bradenton.com
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