"There is a nationwide shortage of pepper-ball ammunition. I expect a delivery of 1,200 rounds tomorrow and half of that has already been sold," gun shop owner Zoltán Gerő told HírTV. His shop mostly sells legally available Airsoft, gas or rubber bullet pistols. "Whereas previously most of our sales were for sport, while recently the demand for self-defense weapons has spiked."
Repeat-fire Airsoft weapons are also in high demand, as would be bows and crossbows, but the latter two are illegal in Hungary.
"Now 80 to 90 percent of our sales are self-defense weapons like gas pistols and rubber-bullet pistols, as well as pepper spray in large quantities", Gerő said. He added that most of recent his customers are first-time buyers, typically from suburban areas. One customer recently bought four gas pistols.
Other gun store owners are reporting a similar rush on firearms and other weapons.
“We are selling five times as much as in a normal March,” Gabor Vass, a Budapest gun store owner, told Reuters.
“We could sell 15 times more if we had any more rubber bullet weapons, but we ran out,” he added.