AR-15 rifles in high demand after Governor Brown signs series of gun control bills

UPDATE 7/18/2016 10:21 PM: Central Coast gun shops are seeing a spike in sales. This comes nearly two weeks after Governor Jerry Brown signed a number of gun control measures.

“The California compliant rifles right now are non-existent. There is nothing out there,” said Ray Parga, owner of Del Valle Gunsmithing in Marina.

Parga said firearms, such as AR-15s, are flying off the shelves. He has some ordered, but even those have already been sold.

“We’re getting right now, probably 20 calls a day and we are a small shop,” said Parga. “Generally they just want to be able to have one before they aren’t allowed to buy them anymore.”

Parga said it all started after Governor Jerry Brown signed a number of gun control measures earlier this month. One has outlawed the so-called bullet button, in an attempt to slow gun users from rapidly reloading.

“That is the serialized part that the federal government considers a firearm and that is basically the base for the AR,” said Parga.

But Parga said that won’t stop manufacturers from developing new tools to get around the law. Other groups are praising the governor.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the governor signed one of its priority bills.

“SB 1435 by de Leon regulates the purchase of ammunition by requiring vendors to be licensed and requiring people to purchase them to go through a background check,” said Rebecca Gonzalez with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Gonzalez said monitoring ammunition sales is just as important as keeping guns out of the wrong hands.

But if you ask Parga, he said the laws have the wrong focus.

“Criminals don’t care about the law. Evil is as evil is,” said Parga.

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KION’s Monica Jacquez will have more on this story at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.