Gun Buyers Rush to Stock Up After San Bernardino Shooting
Two first-time gun buyers said they wanted guns for protection.
— -- The line was out the door at a San Bernardino, California, gun shop Sunday morning, just one mile down the road from the Inland Regional Center, where two armed shooters shot dozens of San Bernardino County employees.
Several shoppers spoke to ABC News on their way into Turner's Outdoorsman, including Ben Reynolds, of Runyon Springs, California, who said he was there buying his first weapon.
"It hit a little close to home," he said. "It can happen anywhere, and this just shows it."
Reynolds said he would consider buying an assault rifle.
Another man told ABC News he was thinking about buying one for "protection -- that's it." He said he was concerned about people invading his home.
Buster Mitchell, who lives 12 miles away from the Inland Regional Center, said the shooting was "too close to home." Mitchell owns seven guns and said he was at the gun shop for supplies.
"I didn't think there would be a line," he said, noting the store's "Christmas sale."
"Christmas is really big for this place, they do a lot of business," he said.
Two handguns used in last week's San Bernardino attack were purchased by the shooters -- Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik. But the other two guns -- modified “assault-style” weapons -- were purchased by a third party that a law enforcement official and a source close to the investigation believe to be Farook's old neighbor, Enrique Marquez.
In the Turner's Outdoorsman brochure, the top of the first page shows a sale for a DPMS assault rifle -- similar to the gun used by Farook and Malik. The gun was on sale for $429.98.
A manager at the Turner's Outdoorsman store declined to comment to ABC News, but some gun shop owners have reported a massive spike in sales.
The FBI runs background checks before customers can purchase a gun, and according to a report from the FBI, the week following the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 was the busiest week ever.
Upticks were also reported after the 2011 Tuscon shooting and the Charleston church shooting earlier this year.