Durban - Security stores in Durban are running out paintball and pellet guns as residents, freaked out by the unprecedented looting and rioting in recent days are flocking to arm themselves.
In addition to running out of these guns, the security stores were also running out on the bullets and the gas cylinders used in them.
There were queues at the security stores on Friday as people who do not have licensed firearms rushed to arm themselves with non lethal guns that do not require licenses.
“We have never been this busy,” a manager at a security told IOL on Friday.
“Since we re-opened yesterday we have seen a huge demand for pellet and paintball guns. We ran out of paintball guns on the same day and right now we are selling our last remaining stock of pellet guns. People are scared for their safety and doing whatever they can to defend themselves,” he said.
A manager of a chain of security stores said that as the riots spread in Monday they took all the stock of paintball and pellet guns out.
They had since moved them to a central store where they were selling out fast.
A 23-year-old Durban man who was one of several people who lined up at a security store on Friday said that buying a pellet gun was the next best thing after a firearm.
“This is basically for home protection. I would have never considered this before but after the looting and the violence of this week this is what I have to do. Right now arming myself with this will at least give me chance to defend myself,” he said.
A staff member at a firearms shop in central Durban said they had never seen demand for paintball guns.
“It was mostly the recreational user that needed them and the odd guy who wanted it for security. Over the past three days we have been inundated with demands for paintball guns,” he said.
He said that paintball and pepper pistols that used gas cylinders to increase the gun’s velocity were popular as they could use solid balls of different calibre sizes.
“They may not kill you but they will break an arm or a rib. It will definitely take an eye out and is an effective deterrent. They are the best non-lethal options. And the fact that you don’t need a license to buy it, makes it hugely popular right now”.
IOL