WILLISTON, Vt. -
FBI firearms background checks are way up in Vermont meaning gun dealers are seeing more business.
"I think we're probably up I would say thirty to forty percent," BJ's Hunting and Shooting Supply owner Jay O'Brien said.
Firearm sales at BJ's are reaching unprecedented levels.
"We've seen record sales all through December and well into January," O'Brien said.
That's the case across Vermont where FBI background checks for gun purchasers jumped from 3191 in November to 4845 in December.
"We actually called in to do background checks through the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check) System we have to use and they were actually turning people away saying all circuits are busy please call back later," O'Briend said.
That demand has shot prices up by almost thirty percent for some firearms as set by suppliers and has made things out of control for Black Ops Firearms owner Tom Covey.
"I didn't like the mania," Covey said.
"I didn't like the 'I've got to have this now because someone said the word ban'."
Things got so busy and crowded at Black Ops that Covey decided to just shut shop.
"I don't like people standing at my counter getting in a fist to cuffs saying 'I'll pay this for that gun and the next guy saying I'll pay this," Covey said.
Black Ops is open part time now and running many more background checks than usual.
O'Brien said that when he's purchasing guns in advance from suppliers now they're not even naming a price because no one's sure how much it will cost in even just a few days.
He says sales for all guns are up across the board but Covey says that he's seeing the most demand for AR-15's which is an assault rifle at the middle of a heated debate about whether to ban them or not.
