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| A Glock pistol in a display case at Delta Arsenal that is for sale to Law Enforcement or Military only on Thursday, May 2, 2013. Firearms dealers are still waiting for the State Police to read through the new gun law and issue new regulations to the businesses. (Christopher Zajac / Record-Journal)
Douglas Odishoo, owner and founder of Delta Arsenal, spent $250,000 to move his gun shop and indoor shooting range to from Meriden to Wallingford.
“It’s a ghost town in here,” Odishoo said. “I haven’t even opened the shooting range yet. People are afraid to bring their guns out. They’re afraid they’ll get arrested.”
Odishoo said since the changes in the state’s gun laws passed in April, he has inventory he can no longer sell and customers aren’t happy with the changes.
“See that gun there,” he said pointing into the glass showcase. “I can’t sell the magazine for it. Who is going to compensate me for that?”
The new regulations, passed in the wake of the shooting deaths of 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, include new restrictions on weapons and large capacity ammunition magazine. The 139-page bill passed 26-10 in the Senate and 105-44 in the House. It adds more than 100 firearms to the state’s assault weapons ban and creates what state officials call the nation’s first dangerous weapon offender registry, and adds eligibility rules for buying ammunition.
“A lot of people are frustrated,” he said. “They don’t know what they can and can’t have.”
The law is also forcing gun manufacturers to rethink staying in Connecticut.
PTR of New Britain, makes the PTR-91 and other military style rifles. In early April, its vice president of sales, John McNamara, said the company hopes to be out of Connecticut by the end of the year.
“Due to an improperly drafted bill, manufacturing of modern sporting rifles in the state of Connecticut has been effectively outlawed,” McNamara stated in a press release. “With a heavy heart but a clear mind, we have been forced to decide that business can no longer survive in Connecticut — the former Constitution State.”
I personally feel we are going to see a lot more of this happening in Connecticut and it is really a shame. It is truly a sad thing that has happened at Sandy Hook and as a father myself I can understand how these families feel but let's be real for a minute. Banning these types of guns will not unfortunately prevent situations like that from happening again. Let's face it, criminals and the mentally disturbed will find ways whether certain guns are banned or not.
"Gun's don't kill people, People kill people"
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