AUBURN — John Reid doesn’t usually open his Court Street gun shop on Sunday, but he made an exception last weekend.

“I was so busy on Saturday that I opened up (Sunday) after all,” Reid said Monday. “And, then, I sold a few more firearms.”

Reid said his gun shop has seen his business increase by 30 percent since November’s presidential election — coming on top of a steady increase since President Barack Obama was first elected in 2008.

But Reid said sales and phone calls to his shop swelled since Friday’s shooting in Newtown, Conn. He doesn’t have statistics yet to describe his sales, but he knows.

“We have just sold a lot of firearms,” Reid said. “I have probably 200, 300 handguns in stock here. So we have a real good selection and that’s what they seem to be buying.”

Chris Jordan, owner of G3 Firearms in Turner, said Tuesday he’s having the same experience.

“We are getting between 150 and 200 phone calls a day, not counting emails, just this weekend,” Jordan said. “It’s been steady since 2008, and a slow steady climb after his election. But this is something else.”

Jordan said two things could be behind the weekend’s increase. People could be buying firearms in the wake of Friday’s shooting, fearing that the president and national and state legislators could impose new sales restrictions. He has sold quite a few semi-automatic rifles, he said.

“Everybody is scared that there is going to be an assault weapons ban,” he said. “The same thing happened in 1994, when there was one with the Brady Bill.”

“A lot people have been thinking about it for some time, I think,” Jordan said. “Now, it’s do or die. They’re either going to get one now, or they’re never going to see one.”

But handguns have seen the biggest increases in Reid’s Auburn store. He thinks people are more concerned about buying firearms to protect themselves.

“People are buying smaller firearms they can carry, for personal protection,” Reid said.

“They’re getting 9 millimeter, .380 compacts, .38s, .22s,” he said. “There is no specific firearm, although the 9 millimeter is really popular. I think people are just concerned about the safety for themselves and their loved ones and they want firearms for protection.”

Reid said that women are increasingly becoming the biggest part of his clientele.

“If I could put my finger on the one biggest change I’ve seen over the years, it would be the amount of women purchasing firearms,” he said. “They are not into the pink stuff. They want workable, concealable firearms. It’s not show for them. They are very serious about what they’re doing.”

Reid said he hasn’t had any trouble locating ammunition.

“We have had to call a few distributors before we found what we wanted, but I have not seen people coming in buying ammo,” Reid said. “We can get what we need.”

But Jordan said he has been running into shortages.

“The ammo for AR-15s and that platform, it’s just gone,” he said. “It’s all allocated from our distributors. Where I used to call up and get 20,000 or 30,000 rounds on one order, now I can get 20 boxes (of 20 rounds) if I’m lucky.”

staylor@sunjournal.com

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