NY ammo sales soar, shops close on eve of change in state gun law

An advertisement for a recent ammo sale.

Facebook the Firing Pin

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3159750186681-ny-ammo-sales-soar-shops-close-on-eve-of-change-in-state-gun-law?_f=app_share&s=a3&share_destination_id=MTM3MTE3MDI3LTE2OTUwOTUyNTI2MDg%3D&pd=09HKOxl3&hl=en_US&send_time=1695095252&actBtn=floatShareButton&android_share_url_only=v1&trans_data=%7B%22platform%22%3A1%2C%22cv%22%3A%2223.37.0%22%2C%22languages%22%3A%22en%22%7D 

Stores across New York saw a run on bullet and gun purchases this week in advance of the state’s new background check laws on firearms and ammunition.

The law, which took effect Wednesday, requires firearm shops to send background checks on guns through the New York State Police, instead of directly to the FBI, while also making background checks a requirement to buy bullets as well.

The Firing Pin, a gun store and indoor rage in Bergen, New York, held a “Fukc New York Sale” on Tuesday offering deals on bullets ahead of the new rule, which took effect the next day.

“It was one of the busiest days we’ve had since the last slew of gun laws came into effect last year,” said Tyler Mirra, the store’s general manager. “It was a line out the door since we opened to when we closed. It was crazy.”

The law also created new fees, $2.50 for ammo purchases and $9 for gun purchases, and The Firing Pin offered discounts on both “before the state starts hoarding all your information,”

Mirra said that sales the store made that day were about ten times the amount they make on an average day and that the new fees would ultimately fall on customers, not sellers, after background checks were without cost in the previous system.

“As a business we have enough taxes so I can’t really eat that so I have to pass that on to the buyer,” he said.

The Country Armory, a firearm shop in Coxsackie, also held a sale ahead of the law change, urging customers to “say screw NY with this sale.”

Meanwhile, multiple gun shops across the state have announced their closing before the new law takes effect, including Mud Creek Guns and Ammo in Kennedy, NY and the Valley Gun Shop in West Falls, NY, owned by Jack Herbst, who told The Post he doesn’t want to subject his customers to state data gathering he considers invasive.

“My customers don’t want anything to do with it,” Herbst said. “People are refusing to buy anything because they have to go through this nonsense.”

Mud Creek Guns and Ammo had a similar message.

“New York State’s new compliancy laws for dealers will make it extremely difficult to stay in business, with background checks on firearms and ammunition going through the state with ‘processing fees,'” the shop posted online late last month, announcing their closure. They were in business for 33 years.