Gun Sales Expected To Spike In Wake Of Connecticut School Shooting

ROSEVILLE (CBS13) - Tragedies like the Connecticut shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown renew the discussion about guns in this country.

There is a gun show happening this weekend at the Placer County Fairgrounds, but not just anyone can come in and walk out with one.

Shockwaves of the elementary school massacre continue to ripple across the country.

"My heart goes out to those people," said Josh Deaser.

Just Guns shop owner Deaser knows California has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Anyone buying a gun must have a California driver's license or id, go through a background check, and then wait 10 days before they can take a gun home.

Deaser says that's not the case in neighboring states like Nevada and Oregon.

"There's no 10 day wait. Once you're in the system, you're in the system," said Deaser. "They don't have a handgun safety test you have to take. You can buy any gun that's made."

Firearms in California must also meet a list of criteria to be legal.

"If California doesn't approve the gun, we can't have it," said Deaser.

It looks like the shooter of the Connecticut school used guns that would be perfectly legal in California. A semi-automatic handgun similar to the one reportedly used in the massacre can only have ten bullets per magazine in California.

Meanwhile, there have been several pushes in the state to further tighten gun laws; but gun groups continue to push back, fighting those efforts.

However, if history serves as a guide, it'll bring business to gun shops across the country.

After the Colorado movie massacre, gun sales spiked into double digits in the state, even higher in California. In the wake of the Tuscon shooting that nearly killed Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona gun sales spiked 60 percent.

Sales sparked from the fear that the right to buy a gun would be lost.

Deaser has seen the spikes in the past, and thinks it could happen again as politicians begin to pressure for stricter gun control laws.

"If they do the knee-jerk reaction that could happen," said Deaser.

That might only fuel the gun control debate that's already beginning to heat up.