By SAMANTHA SARACINO
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The recent theater shootings in Colorado have left many wondering about gun sales and safety in other cities and states.
Although sales in Colorado and Texas have increased, Knoxville stores say it's been business as usual.
"That didn't affect us here as much as it did in Colorado," said Eric Matson, with Tactical Advantage Corp., which provides gun and safety training at Coal Creek Armory.
"Colorado had a 25 percent increase the following three days after that incident. That usually happens nationwide in the general area where that happens," Matson added.
Another Knoxville store, Randy's Guns and Knives, has seen similar results.
"People come in and talk about it, but it hasn't affected our sales," said Steven Bowman, with Randy's Guns. "They're mostly doing the same thing they were doing before."
He says sales are seasonal and summer is not usually their busy time. "It will start with hunting season and then Christmas will be a real big selling time for us. In summertime, people are busy doing other things than shooting," Bowman said.
What has increased at Coal Creek Armory is gun training.
"Training here has increased exponentially, more so the 45 to 60-year-old range has really grown in training for us, as well as women coming in to train," Matson said.
Tennessee as a whole has seen an increase in gun sales.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says in 2011, it ran 21,435 background checks in July. In 2012, it has run 20,856 and there's still a week left in the month.
TBI officials say they expect to run more checks this July, averaging 906 per day, compared to 714 per day in 2011.
Background checks are not equal to the number of guns sold. That's because a person could buy multiple weapons at the same time, resulting in only one check.
Safety is something both stores stressed. They say if you have a firearm, you should know how to use it.
"People come in and talk about it, but it hasn't affected our sales," said Steven Bowman, with Randy's Guns.
