Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte, N.C., said Monday that he believes a ban on assault weapons would not only be bad for his business, but would be ineffective in curbing the type of gun violence seen in Friday's massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"We had an assault rifle ban and a high magazine capacity ban for 10 years and it did affect sales some, but what it didn't do was affect crime in any significant way," Hyatt told HuffPost Live hosts Jacob Soboroff and Alyona Minkovski. "And when that law went away, uh, it was no big deal -- it just was gone and nobody seemed to notice."
Regarding the possibility of a new ban on assault weapons, Hyatt said, "It would cause a problem in the gun industry, but the big deal is, if they pass those laws, the next day our children would not be one bit safer."
Hyatt, who claims his shop is America’s largest independently owned gun store, told The Huffington Post earlier Monday that he had to call in extra salespeople on Saturday -- just one day after the shooting -- because he had a line of customers out the door.
“We already have tons of customers because of Christmas, hunting season is peaking right now, and not to mention, the election. But this tragedy is pushing sales through the roof,” Hyatt told HuffPost. “It’s like putting gasoline on a fire.”