BARRE, Vt. -
Right now in this country it seems no word inspires more passion and anger than the word "gun."
We take no sides. Instead we look at who's buying, who's selling and what's being done to prevent more violence as we go inside a Vermont gun show.
Rob Borowske of the Barre Fish and Game Club is going to show us what everybody is looking at ..."A lot of stuff even from the 17 and 18 hundreds very interesting very eclectic here."
The 21st Century armed forces are here too showing off the firepower used in places like Afghanistan.
People come looking for a good deal or some good advice.
How government responds to tragedies can be a big boost for gun sales.
Borowske says "gun sales went up after 9/11 gun sales went up with the first Obama election where at one point people believed things are going to happen and I'm going to get them now and certainly gun sales are up currently"
President Obama says "now is the time" to close background check loopholes. ban military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
So let's look at some of them.
Licensed dealer Job Sanborn with an AR-15 among the weapons that could be banned. He says it's "the capacity is what's scaring people on these...your typical magazine will hold 30, some 20, 10's 5's"
Gun control advocates want to limit the size of the magazines to 10 bullets. But Borowske says size doesn't matter."Clips load with a button and a new one goes in so in terms of stopping a mass killing it isn't going to happen.>
Dealers are careful "We're not in this to sell a gun quickly and make a quick buck."
His company conducts federal background checks on all its sales and as a precaution he's running checks on all "private sales" for a small fee.
Norwich University senior Brie Davis feels safer with a gun
"Just in case something happens I need to be able to protect myself just like everyone else"
Not the last word on guns, but some insight into the people inside gun shows which are thriving across the nation. This one in Barre was attended by 3,000 people.
