Nashville Gun Owners Aren’t Clamoring To Buy Banned Russian Rifles

A Nashville Armory salesman holds up a $1,000 Saiga rifle, whose imports have been banned with the new sanctions against Russia. Credit: Emily Siner / WPLN

New sanctions placed on Russia last month included a ban on some Russian-made guns. American distributors can no longer import certain brands of popular AK-47 style rifles — but Nashville gun owners are apparently not rushing out to buy them while they last.

When Demir Demirhisar, an owner of Nashville Gun Shop, heard about the new sanctions against Kalashnikov products in July, he was expecting a hike in sales.

“When people think that there is going to be a shortage in the market, people tend to rush into gun shops,” he says. “But currently, there is nothing. There is absolutely nothing.”

At Nashville Armory, general manager Andrew Breneman shows off an AK-style gun made by Russian manufacturer Izhmash, which currently can’t be imported. Breneman says he’s had a few customers buy one specifically because of that.

But there hasn’t been a Russian gun-buying frenzy, and he doesn’t think there will be, either.

“I think the U.S. market is so dynamic, if there’s a hole to be filled, they’re going to fill it,” he says. “People like these types of guns, that’s great, but I think we have the ability to make the guns in the U.S. at a similar price point.”

Indeed, Florida gun manufacturer Century International Arms posted on its homepage that it’s seen a surge of orders for its American-made, Russian-style guns.

If the sanctions continue, the inventory of authentic Russian rifles in the U.S. will decline, and people who want the real thing may have to pay more, says Michael Knight with the Nashville field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.