Angelenos Stock Up On Guns, Gas Masks As If Armageddon Were Near

After learning about the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Michele, a 48-year-old mother of two, did something she had never done before. She bought a gun.

The single mother drove to Martin B. Retting Inc., a Culver City gun shop, and spent $600 on a 9-millimeter handgun, ammunition and related items. Last week, she signed up for her first firearms training class.

“If a terrorist comes into my house, they’re going to have a definite problem with me,” said the mother, who declined to reveal her last name because she doesn’t want her family to know she purchased a weapon. “As Americans, we have to realize that, yeah, this can happen again and we have to be prepared.”

Michael Mun Low, a semi-retired kick-boxing instructor on the Westside, has met more than a few Micheles lately. He was used to getting only a handful of calls each month for lessons. That all changed after Sept. 11.

“I’ve noticed the phone ringing every day in the last two weeks,” he said.

Fear and uncertainty again have struck Los Angeles. Gas masks are selling out, gun sales are skyrocketing, shooting ranges are busy and people are stocking up on survival supplies as if Armageddon were around the corner.

But while fears over a biological or chemical attack might explain the run on gas masks, is it reasonable to think we’ll be shooting terrorists dead on our doorsteps?

Generalized anxiety

Jerold Jellison, a psychology professor at USC, has an answer.

He says that while the response of buying weapons or taking self defense classes might seem irrational at first glance, it has important underpinnings.

Jellison believes the attacks created a feeling of “generalized anxiety” and impotence among citizens, prompting them to take steps they believe will give them a handle on events beyond their control.

“It’s hard to imagine that somebody is actually going to get into a karate battle with a terrorist,” he said. “(But) one way to reduce that anxiety is to take some actions that you perceive as providing a degree of security or protection, even though these are sort of tangential.”

That’s an interpretation some gun store operators can agree on.

At Red Star Military Museum & Sales in Culver City, men and women have been shopping for guns, ammunition and gas masks. “When people get scared, I get a lot more professional people coming in and looking for stuff, doctors, lawyers, accountants,” said Ian, a store employee.

Ammunition sales at Red Star were up between 50 to 75 percent, while gun sales nearly 50 percent higher than normal.

B & B; Sales in North Hollywood, meanwhile, was running out of stock in guns and ammo. It has seen a sales spike similar to that after the Gulf War and L.A. riots. “People feel helpless. This is a way for people to regain control of their lives,” said Rick, an assistant sales manager there.

Seeking security

Jimmy Vollman of Glendale hadn’t practiced his shooting in five years when he decided to stop into LAX Firing Range Inc. last week for 50 rounds with a .45 automatic. Though not “the kind of person who’s going to stock up on water and run for the hills,” Vollman said he has been more aware of his safety since the attacks.

“I don’t know if it’s because I’m 30 or because I’m a dad or because the world is exploding,” he said. “It’s probably the latter.”

Dan Kash, owner and president of the LAX range, said the number of people signing up for firearm training has jumped from five to about 40 a week.

“I’ve never had so many people calling and wanting to take a class,” he said.

Kash also conceded that the effect of learning to use a gun is more psychological than practical. “People want a safety blanket and they want to be able to defend themselves,” he said. “If you take these classes or karate or whatever, you probably feel a little more self-empowered and a little more confident and you probably won’t feel as afraid.”

But why are people so afraid anyway? After all, the attacks took place in New York, thousands of miles away. And despite Los Angeles’s high profile, most people live and work in non-descript homes and office buildings that would seem unlikely targets for any terrorist.

A study conducted after an earthquake in India, may provide some answers.

Residents of a village destroyed by the temblor were less concerned about the possibility of another quake than people living in a village that had suffered less damage. The theory is that those less affected by a disaster will create the idea of another potential calamity to justify their overwhelming fears, Jellison said.

Moreover, a theory called “the tipping factor” may be at play. The theory holds that a single event may cause an action that people may have been considering for a long time. This was the case with Michele, the single mother. “I’ve been thinking of buying a firearm for home protection for four years. Sept. 11 pushed me over the edge,” she said.

Stocking up

Whatever the motivations, it doesn’t appear that they are short lived, with survival-related sales still up last week.

The Supply Sergeant, a chain of Army-Navy surplus stores based in Burbank, have seen sales jump to three times their normal levels, with individuals and families buying first-aid kits, pre-packaged military meals and gas masks at the chain’s Burbank, Hollywood and Santa Monica shops.

“We got 300 (gas masks) in the other day and they were sold out at the end of the day in all three stores,” said Gerald Kulczck, Supply Sergeant’s controller.

Sales were even up at stores not normally associated with disaster preparedness. The REI outdoor store in Northridge last week saw a spike in the purchases of stoves, water filters, first-aid kits, flashlights and similar items.