Assault rifles are selling out across America, as customers seek to purchase them before the government can vote on bans in the wake of mass shootings.
Both online retailers and brick-and-mortar gun shops are seeing more demand than supply, according to CNNMoney.
“Our phones are ringing every 10 seconds and people are saying, ‘Do you have any assault rifles?’” said Dennis Pratte, owner of My Gun Factory in Falls Church, Va. “They’ve sold out of just about every gun shop nationwide and just about every distributor is out of stock.”
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The rush on semi-automatic rifles also includes high-capacity magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.
Online retailers have exhausted their stocks of magazines containing 30, 60 or 100 rounds, CNNMoney reported.
Gun manufacturers are also running short, CNNMoney said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is expected to offer a measure to reintroduce the national assault weapon ban that expired in 2004. It would outlaw the sale and manufacture of such weapons and the high-capacity magazines they use.
“If the public interest in the issue remains high, we have a good chance of passing it,” Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., told USA Today. “But if someone moves us to another issue and the intensity level supporting that ban does not continue, then we have an uphill battle.”
USA Today said experts on the assault weapon issue believe it is unlikely new gun control legislation will pass Congress.
Democrats with safe seats “may vigorously support an assault rifle ban,” but others will not want to challenge the National Rifle Association, said James Jacobs, a professor at New York University School of Law.
Philip Cook, a professor of public policy at Duke University, said there is “little chance” any new gun control legislation will pass the GOP-controlled House.
A Pew Research Center survey concluded the public’s attitudes toward gun control have shown only modest change in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings earlier this month. Currently, 49 percent say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 42 percent say it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns.
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