Americans stock up on weapons after shooting

At a gun range in Atlanta on Sunday, four days after the deadliest ISIS-inspired attack on American soil, Brandon Langley practiced firing his AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle.

“If people were armed, it would have changed the outcome totally,” Mr Langley said of Wednesda-y’s assault. “Instead of 14 victims, there would have been zero, except for those two (attackers).”

Many Americans agree and are stocking up on weapons after the country’s worst mass shooting in three years. Gun retailers are reporting surging sales, with customers saying they want to keep handguns and rifles at hand for self-defence in the event of another attack.

“Everyone is reporting up, every store, every salesman, every distributor,” said Ray Peters, manager of Range, Guns & Safes, a company that sells firea-rms and safes in Atlanta. “People are more aware of the need to protect themselves.” Mr Peters usually carries a pistol with him. But since last week’s shooting, he says he’s added a Ruger semiautomatic rifle.

In a country where more people own more guns than anywhere else in the world, the shooting has reignited a long-running national debate over Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms and whether gun ow-nership should be curbed or expanded as a way to stop even more bloodshed. A recent spate of mass shootings, capped by Wedn-esday’s massacre in San Bernardino, has pushed those issues to the fore in the presidential campaign.

Shivneel Singh (27) said the shooting prompted him to buy a gun on Saturday. He already owned three handguns, a shotgun and a rifle.