Gun sales still rising as anxieties mount

TOILET paper, pasta and sanitiser weren’t the only items being stripped from shelves when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Wannabe doomsdayers also secretly reached for guns and ammo – and lots of it.

When the COVID-19 blitz first struck in March, weapons and tactical businesses doubled staff as the number of gun sales tripled.

Business owners say the boom is continuing, with lawyers and police officers among those stocking up.

In March, Lee Haslett, owner of Burleigh Waters based G&A Tactical, said he was selling 40-50 firearms a week, “when usually we would sell about 15”.

Mr Haslett said people were also spending $500$2000 on ammunition.

“Four people work here now and we usually have two,” he said at the time. “Between 11am and 3pm is full on.

The phone is going off every few seconds.”

When the Bulletin was in the store at the time, a father and teenage son were shopping for ammo, asking to get as much as $500 could buy.

The most popular types of ammunition being sold were 22-gauge shotgun cartridges.

Mr Haslett said people were “worried about what’s going to happen – if electricity would go out, if water or food would run out”.

They were worried about the “breakdown in society”.

The Bulletin approached Mr Haslett again this week. He said business was still booming.

“(Business) has doubled since, especially on the gun sales, not so much the ammunition,” he said.

“Our business has really gone through the roof. It was doing well before but now it’s doing crazy. There are a lot of people out there prepping.

“A lot of people are worried. Very, very worried. And

I’m talking about sensible people too. I’m talking about lawyers, police officers.”

Mr Haslett has been doing security training for more than 15 years. He said he was training about 80 per cent of the city’s security guards.

G&A Tactical opened in 2017 despite protests from some city leaders. “They thought there would be bikies outside, people walking around with rifles. Since we’ve been open, obviously there hasn’t been an issue.”

Picture: Jerad Williams G&A Tactical owner Lee Haslett says the sale of guns has gone “crazy” since March, with widespread fear of a breakdown in society.