Shooters World opens in Tampa - WFLA-TV Newschannel 8

Shooters World in Tampa held a grand opening on Friday to a packed house, inside its new, huge, brightly-lit store.

The store covers 62,000 square feet of space under one roof. There is a showroom filled with firearms, a section for tactical weapons, classrooms, a firing range and even a museum.

Shooters World General Manager Bruce Kitzis says, "We want mom and dad to bring the kids in here to shoot as well as we want women to come by themselves, so we're trying to make it a very friendly environment."

Behind glass windows are museum quality firearms. Kitzis says the weapons range from Revolutionary muskets to an M-16 used in Vietnam. "Each of these that we have has their place in history and if you look, every piece that we have has a little story to it."

Kitzis is also proud of the educational opportunities at the store. "We offer children's courses, gun safety. We make it fun for 'em, but make 'em understand the importance of what a firearm is and the dangers involved", he says.

Shooters World is opening at a time when gun ownership and gun control are being debated across the country. The debate is causing an increase in sales for ammunition and firearms. Store customers like Tom Paulsen say it's difficult to find certain times of ammo.

"Dang near impossible. If you're looking for 9mm you can just forget it," says Paulsen.

Customer Chad Tournade says the shortage of ammo is because people are worried. Tournade says, "People are scared. People are scared of the government trying to take away weapons and stuff."

Bruce Kitzis says he's not worried about running out of ammunition at the store, but he is limiting how much people can buy.

"The normal person who buys two boxes, wants to buy two cases and when you multiply that exponentially throughout the country, the manufacturers are having a hard time keeping up," he said.

Shooters World is located at 116 E Fletcher Ave. in Tampa.