Business is way up for gun shop owner near Ferguson, Missouri ahead of grand jury decision

Four months after the shooting of Michael Brown, the tension in Ferguson, Missouri is as high as it's ever been.

As you've been hearing on the news, all kinds of preparations are underway, as people await the grand jury decision on whether or not to indict Darren Wilson. Mr. Wilson is the white police officer who shot and killed Mr. Brown, a black teenager, on August 9th of this year -- in Ferguson, near St. Louis, Missouri.

The protesters are preparing. The media are ready for wall-to-wall coverage. And the police and National Guard are standing by.

And now there's news that gun sales are up -- way up -- in areas around St. Louis, as people prepare for the worst.

"They're afraid for their life," says Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supplies in nearby Bridgeton, Missouri, to As It Happens host Carol Off. "The fear of the unknown is what's causing people to run in and buy firearms as fast as they can buy them and get the training so they can defend their families."

No permit is needed to buy a gun in the state, only a federal background check. There is a permit needed for carrying a concealed weapon.

King says gun sales have surged recently.

"We've lost count [of the amount of guns sold]," he says. "We've sold several hundred guns over the past 10 days or so and it's just about the people coming in and being afraid and having to buy guns because they're afraid of the unknown."