Orlando Shooting: AR-15 Sales Rising as Calls for Bans Increase

ATLANTA, Ga — Sales of the type of gun that Omar Mateen used in the deadliest mass shooting in American history are increasing in Atlanta and elsewhere in the U.S.

Mateen is believed to have used a .223 caliber assault rifle to kill 49 people and wound another 53 early Sunday morning at an Orlando gay nightclub.

A Georgia lawmaker, state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver of metro Atlanta, is renewing her efforts to restrict the sale of assault rifles, large-capacity magazines and armor-piercing bullets in Georgia.

In the meantime, one metro Atlanta gun store is seeing an increase in assault rifle sales. On Monday, Adventure Outdoors told 11Alive that 35 AR-15s were sold within three hours, a rate of about 10 guns per hour.

“There’s one that’s buying them for an investment, and the other one is the person that’s buying them because they’re afraid they won’t be available; they’re afraid the government is going to take them away,” store owner Jay Wallace said.

Often called the most political gun in America, AR-15s range in price between $500 and $3,000.

In central Oregon, Redmond Black Rifle/Colfax Tactical owner Larry Myers told KTVZ that he expects gun sales to increase.

"It is a tactical weapon commonly used for home defense but most often utilized (for shooting) varmints," Myers said. "The civilian version of the AR-15 is not a full automatic, it's a semi-automatic — pull the trigger once and get one bullet. 

"They do not empty magazines within one minute unless you pull the trigger that many times," Myers said.

Georgia wants to see at least a bipartisan discussion on the easy access to assault weapons, Oliver told Patch. 

"I don't think I'm the only person in Georgia who wants to have a discussion on some ways to reduce the thousands of deaths due to gun violence," Oliver said. "We have failed the public for refusing to have this discussion."

Image: Orlando Police