(Gainsville.com) By Fred Hiers
Robert Gunn's prediction about firearm sales if President Barack Obama got a second term was as blunt as the collection of his snub-nose 38s beneath the glass counter for sale: If the president's popularity held, so would record high gun sales, the Ocala Armory gun shop salesman said.
Gunn was right.
On Election Day this year, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted 2,227 background checks, up from 1,553 on the same Tuesday in 2011.
On Nov. 7, the day after Obama was re-elected, 3,017 people in Florida submitted requests to purchase firearms. That's up from 1,640 during the same day a year ago.
The number of background checks — needed in Florida before you can purchase a firearm — has remained around 2,700 ever since Obama's re-election, the FDLE reported.
If nothing else, Obama's election both this year and in 2008 translated into a boom to gun and ammunition sales, Gunn said with a shrug.
“It's been a boost to the (firearm) economy … but when it came to the election, you could have predicted this,” Gunn said.
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