S. Philly gun dealer says assault weapons selling briskly

In the wake of the elementary school shootings in Connecticut, gun sales remain up. The renewed talk about gun control meant brisk holiday-time business for at least one Philadelphia gun dealer.

Greg Isabella of Firing Line in South Philadelphia says people flocked to his range and gun dealership in the wake of the shootings that claimed the lives of 20 Connecticut first-graders and six adults at the school.

“Everyone thinks that the government is going to ban them — and we had a repetition again almost identical to what happened in 1994 with the sale of so-called assault weapons,” Isabella said. “If you have them you are going to sell them, and we sold about 98 of them.”

In 1994, the Federal Assault Weapon act went into effect for 10 years. It included a prohibition on the manufacture and civilian use of certain semi-automatic weapons known as assault weapons. That ban expired in 2004.

Isabella says if legitimate firearms owners don’t want to see another ban, they need to speak up. 

“You have to let your representatives know that you are against these crazy laws,” he said. “Because these laws don’t work.”

Advocates of a renewed ban counter that the weapons they seek to ban have no use in hunting or self-protection.