PRAIRIEVILLE - After last weekend's tax-free holiday, some gun stores are still seeing crowds, and owners said that recent national violence could also be fueling sales.

After major price cuts over the weekend, some gun stores said customers have continued to come back over the last week.

“We had a tax-free weekend last weekend. Yes, it's always busy there. It's always busy afterwards,” CJ Hebert, owner of Hebert Guns in Prairieville, said.

He also said, however, that recent national violence could also be driving sales.

“People get scared. We saw it when we had the ski mask rapist, and we had a lot of sales sent to ladies,” Hebert said.

He said that when conversations about violence spike, so does demand for firearms, as people buy out of fear. He remembered seeing the same trend in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Hebert also noted an uptick in the sale of guns specially intended for home defense and personal protection.

“If it's for home defense, they get, like, a shotgun or something like that, because that's a good deterrent handgun. Sometimes, if it's a lady or something that she works late at night, she wants something that she can put in our purse,” Hebert said.

He advised against buying a gun just because of panic and touched on the importance of gun safety.

“Don't buy one if you think you're just going to threaten them. Learn how to shoot, okay, and don't buy it unless you plan on shooting if it's some kind of dire emergency, if you're being attacked, your kids or something, understand that, but just don't buy it and hold it up and say, ‘Oh, I'll shoot,’ Hebert said.

He emphasized that training and preparation are just as important as the purchase itself.