ORWIGSBURG -- Shakey's Gun Shop in Orwigsburg is usually a busy place. People are either shopping around, buying a firearm or trading one in.
Employees there deal with a lot of background checks, so they were interested to hear President Obama's new gun control plan. It includes expanding background checks on violent criminals and requiring anyone who sells a gun to have a license.
At Shakey's, employees say they already do all of that, but they don't think that alone will stop bad guys from getting guns.
"They're criminals. They're breaking the law either way. They're not going to go, 'ooh, there's a new law. Let's abide by it,'" said Joshua Shamonsky, president of Shakey's Gun Shop.
Gun shop owners believe the answer isn't necessarily more regulation. Instead, they think the current rules should be enforced.
"If you don't enforce the laws, the background checks aren't really going to make an effect," said Shamonsky.
Shamonsky says you rarely hear about someone getting caught illegally selling guns.
He says there are a lot of so-called "straw sales," where someone who can't buy a gun has someone else do it for them.
He doesn't believe more background checks will stop that either.
"Paying somebody to go out and buy them weapon, they go buy them, sell them to them and they get the weapons that way."
Some gun owners say if you give a harsher punishment for breaking the law, people might stop.
"They're put away time and time and time again. They come out and that's it," said Jim McCaffrey of Cressona.
Even with all the gun control talk, gun shops like Shakey's are seeing a business boom.
Shamonsky said, "People are scared. They're afraid that they're going to be left helpless if they don't go out and get a weapon while they still can."
Gun shop owners aren't sure if President Obama's new plan will mean they'll have to fill out an extra form or two.
Either way, they say they'll follow the law, whatever it is.
