Attacks spark gun and gas mask sales

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT-MESA -- It’s all about preparation and protection.

That could be what’s driving sales at local stores that sell guns and

gas masks.

Gun sales at The Grant Boys on Newport Boulevard shot up fivefold

since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the

Pentagon, said Jack Carver, vice president of the Costa Mesa store.

“The increase has been tremendous,” he said. “What sell the most are

handguns, shotguns and the semiautomatic rifles.”

Many who have been coming to his store the last two weeks are clearly

first-time firearm buyers, Carver said.

“It looks like a lot of them had wanted to get a gun, but had been

putting it off for a while,” he said. The terrorist attacks “were like

the last straw that pushed them to do it.”

This is not the first time Carver has seen his sales climb

dramatically upward.

“It happened at the time of the [Los Angeles] riots, Gulf War and

Y2K,” he said. “And it’s happening now. The one common denominator at all

these events has been uncertainty. I guess people are just insecure and

feel the need to protect themselves in case something horrible happens.”

Gas masks are also selling by the thousands at South Coast Army and

Navy on Coast Highway.

On Tuesday afternoon, at least a dozen people inside the small store

and its parking lot were waiting for a new shipment of gas masks to

arrive.

Those in line, several who did not want to reveal their names, said

they just want to “be prepared” in the event of future attacks.

“We don’t know what will happen,” said Glenn Tugonon, a Fountain

Valley resident who came with his wife, Nina, and 3-year-old son, E.J.

“We have to be prepared for anything that flies in the air.”

The Togonons bought masks for themselves Monday, but came back Tuesday

to get one for E.J., whose size was not available then.

Laguna Beach resident Myra Gordon said she wanted to add the mask to

her disaster preparedness kit.

“We’re being told there could be imminent threats,” she said. “The

worst thing that can happen is biological warfare, and a lot of us don’t

know what that’s all about.

“I guess, for most of us, it’s just a fear of the unknown,” she added

The gas masks that sell in surplus stores cost anywhere between $30

and $200 apiece. The Newport store sells Israeli masks, which are the

cheaper variety, as well as Russian, German and American masks. The store

sells them as novelty items and does not guarantee them, said owner

Michael Sherman, who was taking a phone call a minute Tuesday.

“We’ve sold thousands of these since Sept. 11,” he said. “Just today

there were 200 people waiting to buy the masks.”

Sherman, who has owned the store for the last 25 years, said he saw

similar panic during the Gulf War, after which fear seemed to taper and

fade away at some point.

Roxane Cohen Silver, professor of psychology at UC Irvine, said she

has heard of people buying gas masks in Israel, but was surprised to hear

local people lining up outside Army surplus stores.

“But people everywhere are looking for answers,” she said. “It’s just

a way for them to try and gain control over something they can’t

control.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .