G&A Tactical in Burleigh struggled to keep up with demands as people prepped for the worst

Toilet paper, pasta and sanitizer weren’t the only items being ripped off shelves when the coronavirus pandemic hit. READ THE BIZARRE TALE

TOILET paper, pasta and sanitizer weren’t the only items being ripped off shelves when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Wannabe doomsdayers also secretly reached for guns and ammo — and lots of it.

When the COVID-19 blitz first struck in March, weapons and tactical businesses were forced to double staff as the number of guns sales had tripled.

And business owners say the boom is continuing with lawyers and police officers among those stocking up.

In March, Lee Haslett, the owner of Burleigh Waters based G&A Tactical, said he was selling 40-50 firearms a week, “when usually we would sell about 15”.

G&A Tactical owner Lee Haslett. Picture: Jerad Williams

Mr Haslett said people were also spending $500-2000 on ammunition.

“Four people work here now and we usually have two,” he said at the time. “Between 11am and 3pm is full on. The phone is going off every few seconds.”

While the Bulletin was in the store at the time, a father and young teenage son were shopping for bullets, asking to get as much as $500 could buy.

The most popular type of ammunition being sold was 22-gauge bullets for shotguns.

Mr Haslett said people were “worried about what’s going to happen — if electricity would go out, if water or food would run out”.

They were worried about the “breakdown in society”.

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Lee Haslett and Nathan Recker. Picture: Jerad Williams

When the Bulletin caught up with Mr Haslett again this week, he said business was still booming.

“(Business) has doubled since. Especially on the gun sales, not so much the ammunition,” he said.

“Our business has really gone through the roof. It was doing well before but now it’s doing crazy. There are a lot of people out there prepping.

Toilet paper shelves sit empty in Woolworths Runaway Bay in early March. Picture: Lea Emery.

“A lot of people are worried. Very, very worried. And I’m talking about sensible people too. I’m talking about lawyers, police officers.”

Mr Haslett has been doing security training for more than 15 years and says he’s training about 80 per cent of the city’s security guards.

G&A Tactical opened in 2017 and was heavily rejected by city leaders.

“They didn’t want us to open a gun store here because they thought it was going to be crazy out here,” he said.

“They thought there would be bikies outside, people walking around with rifles. It’s nativity with guns.

“Since we’ve been open, obviously there hasn’t been an issue.”

Originally published as G&A Tactical in Burleigh struggled to keep up with demands as people prepped for the worst