Gun store owners, consumers react to sales following VA Beach shooting

Ian Frampton agrees the firearm marketplace is different following a mass shooting tragedy. In fact, it's nearly predictable.

"It's really not the tragedy," said Frampton, who owns Sovereign Guns in Fuquay-Varina. The once brick-and-mortar location on Main Street is now a facility where Frampton and his staff fulfill online orders for firearm accessories.

"It's whenever a politician starts talking about doing some form of knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy," Frampton said, that an increase in sales occurs.

"We didn't see an upturn in sales directly when the (Virginia Beach) shooting happened," Frampton said. "It was only after the politicians started talking."

Frampton was referencing Democratic presidential candidates Mayor Pete Buttigieg and US Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

"We are not secure if the Second Amendment is allowed to become a death sentence for thousands of Americans because Washington cannot deliver common sense gun reform," Buttigieg said in front of Democrat supporters at a weekend convention in Northern California.

"Those weapons belong on battlefields," added Swalwell. "Not on our churches, not in our schools." Swalwell attended Campbell University in Buies Creek on a soccer scholarship.

As the crowded field of Democrats continues to call for more gun control, the stance for Frampton is an easy one to take. "Election years are always busy and gun sales leading up to any election," Frampton added. "And pending on the outcome it'll be a very different outlook."