Congresswoman renews calls for assault weapons ban, gun shops anticipate surge in sales

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - In the aftermath of Monday’s mass school shooting in Nashville, Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, who represents Georgia’s 7th congressional district, has renewed her calls for an assault weapons ban.

McBath joined Democratic colleagues on Monday in a letter to Republican House leaders asking to let them vote on the ban.

Meanwhile, the owner of a Cobb County gun store says the plan will backfire.

"Typically, when politicians talk about wanting to ban certain types of firearms, our customers will rush to the store," said Eric Wallace, owner of Adventure Outdoors. "It starts to kind of create a little bit of a panic amongst some of the customers, you start selling out of certain models."

"You’ve got to be able to demand action instead of throwing up your hands and acting as if nothing can be done while our children are still being murdered in their classrooms," McBath said.

Wallace said that after the Uvalde massacre, sales of AR-15s tripled over fears of new gun control legislation.

McBath chalks the surge in gun sales after mass shootings down to one thing: fear.

"They’re afraid that if we pass common-sense legislation they fear that all of their guns are going to be taken away," the congresswoman told FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo. "That’s not what this is about."

While Democrats were unable to pass the ban when they controlled both chambers of Congress for the last two years, with Republicans now in charge of the House, it is almost certain to fail.

Both sides of the debate seem to agree on one thing: people like the shooters in Nashville and Uvalde should never have been able to access those guns.

"We don't want these firearms to end up in the wrong people's hands, of course, [like] somebody that commits a tragedy like this," Wallace said.

Despite little momentum on Capitol Hill, Rep. McBath vowed to keep fighting for reforms of gun laws.

"We believe that everybody should have the ability to protect themselves, however, with that comes some sense of responsibility in the way that people are actually accessing and using guns," she said.