Only a month after the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, men and women are starting to stock up on firearms, fearing possible new laws that would outlaw the purchase of these weapons. While there have not been any definitive laws set in place to regulate the purchase of firearms, many people say that they are stocking up “just in case.” The horrific shooting which killed 20 children and six adults early last month caused many to advocate for tighter gun controls in the United States. Because of the many people asking for stricter gun laws, worried citizens are buying up all the firearms that they can find.

The reason for the heavy push for gun control is because the mentally unstable shooter at Sandy Hook may have avoided doing damage if he had not had easy access to the gun that he used to create such a horrific tragedy. Vendors also expressed the possibility of gun regulation at a recent Ontario gun convention where they pushed the possibility of gun laws in order to sell a massive number of weapons. One attendee at this gun convention said that the pandemonium was out of control. Everyone was worried that this may be their last chance to purchase a firearm, and the vendors were swamped with transactions. At this particular show, customers staked out for hours before the doors to the convention opened. About 500 people already had spots staked out when there was still three hours before the event would start.

President Barack Obama has publically voiced support of a federal ban on assault weapons since his 2008 campaign, and has continued to advocate for this ban in light of the Colorado movie theater shooting and this most recent one at Sandy Hook. Members of the Senate support the measures as well. One attendee at the Ontario gun show joked that “Obama is the number one gun salesman in the nation” because so many people are rushing to their local gun dealers to get firearms before a ban sneaks up on them.

Already, some states have extremely tough statutes when it comes to gun purchases. In California, gun owners can only buy firearms with an ammunition clip that holds less than 10 rounds. Every purchaser needs to submit to a strong background check and must wait 10-days before a sale can be finalized. The FBI says that as many as 2.78 million criminal background checks were completed in the month of December by men and women that wanted to purchase guns. While the gun purchasing chaos continues, the government is slowly working through new federal weapons laws.

If any gun bans go into effect, they will more than likely come with penalties. Anyone who fails to honor these statutes will probably be arrested and may be fined. Those who are more intentional about their crimes may even be jailed for violating weapons laws. Currently, the federal government mandates that states are in charge of issuing concealed weapon permits. Those that carry a concealed weapon and do not have one of these permits can be prosecuted. To learn all of the current federal firearms laws, you can check out The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives’ web page at www.atf.gov.

If you are arrested for violating a state or federal firearms offense, then you are going to want the help of an attorney to prevent you from a jail sentence or a hefty fine. While an attorney cannot guarantee that he or she can help you avoid prosecution, chances are that he or she can try hard to do so. In many instances, weapons offenders have avoided serious punishments because of a skilled and creative attorney. With the right aggressive criminal defense lawyer there to help, you may be able to leave the courts without any sentences to serve!