An online gun store based in Pennsylvania saw sales of its AR-15 semiautomatic rifle spike following the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando last week.
Hunter’s Warehouse sold 30,000 AR-15’s in the five days following the terrorist attack. The online shop offers between 300,000 to 400,000 weapons.
"Shootings don’t push up gun sales. It’s when the government starts talking about banning particular guns and up go gun sales," the shop’s owner Tom Engle told Fox Business. "When people lose their right to buy a particular gun or a particular type of gun, they go after them and they want them then."
In the wake of the Orlando attack, President Obama renewed his call for tougher gun control measures. He called it "unconscionable" that the United States allows "easy access to weapons of war" during a Father’s Day address on Sunday.
Lawmakers also moved to push gun legislation in response to the shootings. The Senate on Monday rejected four gun proposals, which were introduced by both Democrats and Republicans.
Gun and ammunition vendors also saw a spike in sales last December after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.
One retailer, Ammunition Depot, saw sales increase by 300 percent. The National Rifle Association Range in Fairfax, Va., meanwhile noticed a 20 to 30 percent increase in customers.
The New York Times reported last year that gun sales typically rise when gun control advocates push for new restrictions following a mass shooting or attack.