Parkland mass shooting spiked gun sales in Florida. But are Manatee gun shops seeing same effect?

While gun sales have surged in Florida in the more than two months since the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, local gun shops in Manatee County say sales have remained steady.

Across the United States, mass shootings have typically spurred gun sales as the debate over gun control becomes reignited. In the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 students and teachers dead, gun sales have seen a significant increase in Florida.

In Manatee County, gun shop owners and management say overall they are seeing steady sales.

At Aegis Tactical, 5103 Lena Road Unit #113 in Lakewood Ranch, co-owner Jaci Krawtschenko says they saw no major changes in their sales in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting.

"We still have long gun sales, so the AR's are still selling," Krawtschenko said. "The only thing that has changed is the laws."

Gov. Rick Scott in March signed legislation raising the age from 18 to 21 for all gun purchases. The new law created a three-day waiting period to buy guns and a process to remove guns from those determined to be mentally unstable.

But Krawtschenko's shop rarely has customers who are under the age of 21 trying to buy riffles, she explained. Typically those few customers they have who are under 21 are teenagers who live on large properties.

"Everybody in the gun community is very saddened by what happened," Krawtschenko said. "The big thing that is being discussed is the changes needed in mental health. ... There are people that need help in this world, and we need to help them."

Krawtschenko, who owns the shop with her ex-husband, says they have seen an increase in demand for the many courses they offer. The biggest demand has been for their situational awareness and scenario training workshop.

The workshop teaches people how to handles scenarios such as a mass shooting, armed carjacking and more. The workshop tries to teach people to find a way out of those scenarios, but if they can't it shows them how to act in order to protect themselves.

"The Parkland shooting made people become more aware," Krawtschenko said. "Our shop is all about gun safety and gun responsibility."

In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, several churches have reached out to Aegis Tactical to request training.

Roger McManaman, owner of Red Barn Gun Shop, 5107 14th St. W., Bradenton, was busy assisting multiple customers just before noon on Friday.

"There has been no change, as far as I am concerned," McManaman said.

At ASAP Gun and Pawn, manager Craig Yingling said they've seen gun sales remain steady.

"For maybe a week or two afterward, they spiked a little bit since people were unsure of what the gun laws were going to be," Yingling said. "Since then they have gone back to normal, which is still pretty good."

Spikes in sales come to no surprise, however.

"Every time there is shooting somewhere, they have a knee-jerk reaction," Yingling said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2018 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Parkland mass shooting spiked gun sales in Florida. But are Manatee gun shops seeing same effect?."