ANTICIPATED SHIPPING HIKES, GOOD ECONOMY SPUR GUN SALES

Gun sales tend to be increasing nationally, but dealers in Southeast Missouri say it has more to do with hunting and Christmas than Y2K.

Anyone who has fears about personal safety in the new millennium is not buying a gun now, said Alan Reiman, owner of Re Armms in Sikeston.

"The people that want to be prepared for some catastrophe like Y2K were prepared years ago," Reiman said.

The FBI says gun sales seem to have risen based on an increase in requests for background checks for gun buyers. In December last year, 871,644 background checks were requested by gun dealers. Through Monday, over 1 million requests had been called in by gun dealers to the National Instant Check System, said Dave Miller, an FBI spokesman.

The criminal background check system was applied to all gun sales beginning Nov. 30, 1998. It requires gun buyers to fill out a form giving personal information, which is called in by a gun retailer on a toll-free line to NICS.

Since last August, when about 700,000 requests were handled, the number has increased by nearly 100,000 each month, Miller said.

A 200 percent increase in sales of muzzleloaders at his store this year is the result of several factors, the least of which is Y2K motivated, said Paul Page, owner of Big Foot's in Fruitland.

An extension of the deer hunting season by the Missouri Conservation Department and anticipation of higher prices in 2000 have contributed to business at Big Foot's and other gun stores, Page said.

Gun dealers had anticipated a large increase in prices due to higher shipping costs. United Parcel Service, which delivers most firearms to dealers, announced in October that handguns must be shipped for next-day delivery by air instead of through ground transportation. With higher shipping costs for handguns, dealers were expecting to see costs go up by $20 to $25 a gun, said Don Beard, owner of Beard's Sport Shop in Cape Girardeau.

So far, costs have risen only about $12, Beard said. This hasn't made a difference in his sales, Beard said, and the increase is easy to absorb since gun prices typically increase by 5 percent annually.

To try to keep costs reasonable, Page will order more guns directly from manufacturers, eliminating wholesalers. Although this means he will spend more to buy handguns in bulk, Page said he expects to profit overall.

Adding 20-gauge shotguns with shorter stocks to his inventory has increased sales this year, Page said.

"Because of their size, they're more for younger people and smaller ladies," he said. "They can be used for self defense, but the ones I'm selling are geared more toward hunting."

Gun dealers say buyers this month are mostly familiar faces.

"I haven't sold a gun to a neophyte in several weeks," Page said.

Beard's sales are up this December because customers were wary of how federal background checks would work when the FBI initiated them a year ago.

If sales are up nationally, a good economy is playing a leading role, Reiman said.

"When the average price of a gun I sell is $500, it shows that people have money to spend," he said.

An abundance of federal legislation on firearms this year hasn't hurt sales either. It motivates people to buy before any perceived restrictions come into force, Reiman said.

"Bill Clinton is the best gun salesman I've got," he said.