(Newser)
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In the any-publicity-is good-publicity-department: Sales of semiautomatic Glock pistols like that used in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting have spiked in Arizona and across the nation in the days following the attack, reports Bloomberg. One-day sales of the $500 Glocks were up 60% in Arizona when comparing Jan. 10 of this year to last. Other states reporting big spikes were Ohio (65%), Illinois (38%), New York (33%), and California (16%), according to FBI figures.
Gun shop owners say it's typical after such high-profile events for a variety of reasons—people think the gun laws will change or they get worried about protecting their families. “When something like this happens people get worried that the government is going to ban stuff,” says one. In fact, Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was one of six shot to death in 1993 on a Long Island train, is hoping to enact a federal ban on the Glocks' high-capacity ammunition clips. The one used in the Arizona shooting allowed 33 rounds to be fired before reloading.
