In this bad economy there is a bright spot in one sector.
Gun sales have been through the roof lately.
December marked the 19th month background checks have increased, and last year alone there were more than 10.5 million.
We wanted to know if mid Missouri was seeing the same trend so we headed to one of the largest gun retailers in the state right here in Belle, Missouri.
John Dawson with Osage County Guns told us, “Both internet and retail sales are close to record levels".
To prove it all you have to do is take a look at their mail cart. The day we were there is was stacked about four feet high.
In their warehouse you'll find row after row of guns just waiting to be shipped.
So why is this unsuspecting retailer, in the middle of a corn field, having record sales year after year?
Dawson said, "with the economy moving in a downward slope crime tends to move upward and so we have a lot of customers looking to buy self-defense pistols, some are buying self defense shotguns an rifles, you have a lot of men who are buying guns for their wives and that's a real big contributor to the sales".
Nationally background checks for firearms were up 25 percent in December from the previous year. Here at Osage County Guns their in store sales doubled in December.
Kyle Ridenhour was shopping for a gun and says it doesn’t surprise him that sales are up, "It doesn't surprise me no, the way things are going. Before long if things stay the way they are we aren't going to be able to have guns".
Edward Pepper owns Osage County Guns, "Over the past month I think it's the uncertainty of the elections that are coming up, we're going into a new political season. Back in '08 people were afraid they weren't even going to be able to own firearms so there was a big boom in sales resulting from that".
We tried to see how many background checks were done locally but local sheriff’s departments no longer handle the process.
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