Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas gun stores brace for worst on Election Day

Some Las Vegas-area gun stores are preparing for potential unrest following Tuesday’s election, with one store adding more security measures and hoping for the best, a representative said.

Wes Lokken, a sales representative at Controlled Pair Munitions, 7350 W. Cheyenne Ave., said the store is adding extra locks, security cameras and staff.

“We are preemptively adding more security measures to protect the store and community if there is any looting and riots,” he said. “We have hope in humanity and our community that they will respect our small business.”

Business at gun stores throughout Las Vegas has spiked during the pandemic. There was another spike in the last week because of the uncertainty of the election, according to reports.

Metro Police, meanwhile, are putting extra officers on standby, and elsewhere in the U.S., there have been reports of business owners boarding up their stores in fear of riots.

This election season has been rancorous, with tempers sometimes flaring between supporters of President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. 

In videos posted on Twitter, a group of cars and pickup trucks — many adorned with large Trump flags — can be seen riding alongside a Biden campaign bus on Friday in Texas, and at times boxing it in, as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin. At one point, one of the pickup trucks can be seen colliding with an SUV that was driving behind the bus.

Neither Biden nor his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, was aboard the bus. The campaign canceled an event later in the day.

Trump, meanwhile, has done little to turn down the heat, challenging the legitimacy of mail-in voting and refusing to commit to the peaceful transfer of power if the election doesn’t go his way. And Trump also told his supporters to “stand back and stand by” during a debate, which prompted a far-right extremist group to pledge its allegiance.

“Standing down and standing by sir,” an account linked to the extremist Proud Boys posted on social media.

Dallas Green, owner of Gun Shop Las Vegas in Henderson, said he’s not planning to board up or take any extra security measures, but he might close early on Election Day.

He said he doesn’t expect any disruptions. “It might get crazy but I doubt it,” he said.

Metro Police is putting 600 extra officers on alert and is ready to respond to any incidents at polling locations. The department says it will balance the need for security with the need not to be seen as an intimidating presence at the polls.