InTouch with Southern Kentucky August 2020 | Page 15

STEVE CORNELIUS I CJ
Paul’s Discount,
which opened in
1960 by Paul and
Frances Neikirk,
is a “unique” store
with many different
departments
offering a widerange
of goods,
including a large
selection of guns.
“If the Democrats take the Senate
or the presidency, this trend will
continue more so. We won’t be
able to order (guns and ammo) fast
enough. Should the Republicans
hang on to the Senate and the
presidency, then the market will be
more stable.”
Hall said that her store, though
a pawn shop, is selling mostly new
firearms. “We cannot get enough
stuff out to keep up with the
demand,” she said. “We’re getting at
least two orders a week, usually.”
Hall’s has seen the biggest sales
for smaller pistols that can be
carried concealed or kept in one’s
vehicle, noted Hall. Some of the
popular types of guns being sold
are Taurus and Smith & Wesson,
though one popular seller that Hall
said she’s been surprised by are old
antique guns and military items that
have come out of pawn trade-ins.
“Gun sales have always been
good for my dad from the very
beginning,” said Hall, “though we
have a lot more competition than
we did years ago.”
Kelsey Chaney, sporting goods
supervisor for Paul’s Discount,
said that her store is selling “a lot
of handguns and home defense”
weapons, and has also seen an
increase in rimfire rifles, “like little
.22s.”
Neikirk said the market for
firearms has “really segmented”
over the years as customers have
become more knowledgeable about
what they want.
“People just want different things,
and the market has adapted to
that,” he said. “We used to have
three automobile makers; now
we have what, 20? The same
thing happened to firearms and
ammunition.”
Cumberland
Lake, Inc.
“Working together for
a better community.”
P.O. Box 430
150 Railroad Drive
Somerset, KY 42502
Office: 606-679-6316
Fax: [phone]
AUGUST 2020 In Touch with Southern Kentucky • 15