After post-Newtown surge, gun sales return to normal

Al Allen of Double Action Indoor Shooting Center and Gun Shop said sales were about 60 percent of the last quarter of 2012
and early 2013.

The historic public firearms buying spree that erupted at the end of 2012 and continued into early 2013 has subsided, metro Detroit gun dealers say.

Sales have largely returned to typical fourth-quarter numbers.

"Things have stabilized. The panic to buy is pretty much over. The cost of the weapons has gone down to where it was before the panic," said Steve Graebner, owner and president of Wessel Gun Shop Inc. in Warren.

The Newtown, Conn., elementary school shootings in December 2012 fueled concerns of new gun control legislation — fears that largely proved unfounded — and gun stores locally andin line with a typical fourth quarter, he said.

"People weren't panic-buying," he said.

They were buying everything at the end of 2012, however: In five days after the Connecticut school shootings, Double Action sold its entire inventory of 116 rifles and more than 900 handguns — the biggest run on guns in the store's 25-year history, Allen said.

It wasn't until midsummer that gun manufacturers were able to meet customer demand, he said.

Ammunition remains difficult to get, Allen said, and so do some handgun models in demand, such as Springfield, Mass.-based Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.'s small-frame revolvers. The store's website listed a single Smith & Wesson Model 638 five-shot revolver available on Tuesday for $429.

"We've had no luck trying to keep up with customer requests for the entire year,"