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  • Area Gun Stores Say Proposals Would Have Little Business Effect

COLUMBIA - Local gun store owners told KOMU 8 News Monday President Barack Obama's gun policy proposals would have little, if any, effect on their businesses.

Key components of the president's gun policy plan that may affect firearms dealers directly include:

• A ban on military-style "assault" weapons
• A ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition
• Explicitly banning "straw purchases," which involve someone buying a gun for another person for purposes other than as a gift
• Reviewing and possibly enhancing safety standards for gun locks and gun safes
• Asking private sellers to sell their firearms through a licensed dealer rather than on their own

Targetmasters Operations Manager Barry McKenzie said a ban on military-style firearms would affect less than 5 percent of his inventory. He added not all gun stores carry the same amount of such guns, so such a ban would affect different stores differently. McKenzie said his store already works frequently with private individuals trying to sell firearms, something he encourages anyone trying to sell a gun to do. He said stores like his could see more people sell through them rather than privately in the future. McKenzie said his store does not sell through gun shows, and he doubts adding background checks for gun shows would cause any more customers to go to his store instead of a gun show.

Ammo Alley owner Doug Alley said under current law, any time someone tries to buy a firearm through a licensed dealer such as himself, the purchaser's application is checked through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. Such background checks are not currently performed by non-licensed dealers at gun shows, and Alley said expanding background checks to include all purchases is appropriate. He said he wasn't sure what else could be done against straw purchasers.

Both Alley and McKenzie said business has been brisk in the last month, and Alley said any effort to ban military-style weapons would likely cause people to rush to buy them before any such ban went into effect.

The full text of President Obama's proposal:

President's Gun Proposals by