Ryszard Bus, right, at Hubert gun shop in Przemysl, Poland. Owner Mieczyslaw Wawrzkowicz, left, has seen an influx in business. 'Since the war started, it’s non-stop,' Mr. Wawrzkowicz said.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
Piotr Wiarski has never sold as many M16 rifles, Glock pistols, pump-action shotguns and other firearms of all kinds as quickly as he has since Russia invaded Ukraine last month. And don’t even ask him about bullets. They’re sold out, too.
Mr. Wiarski owns Gruby Kaliber, one of the main gun shops in Przemysl, a small city in eastern Poland that is about 10 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. His sales have doubled in the past week, and he’s struggling to keep up with orders.
While he welcomes the boost in revenue, he’s troubled by the number of weapons circulating in this normally tranquil border town. “They are all afraid,” he said of his growing customer base. “I think they feel better when they’ve got something in the house. But I’m not sure it is better.”
It’s not only Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the fear that violence could spill into Poland that has people around Przemysl concerned. There’s also unease over the hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring across the border.
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Poland has taken in more than one million Ukrainians since the war began, according to the country’s border agency, and most of them have come through Przemysl, which is the busiest border crossing. Shelters have been set up across the city, and its train station is jammed with arriving Ukrainians. While many residents have opened their arms and their homes to the refugees, there are plenty of people in town who feel threatened by the arrival of so many new faces. And many feel the need to buy some protection.
That’s what drove Eliza and her husband to Gruby Kaliber on Saturday.
“It’s a dangerous time now,” Eliza said, with her five-year-old son, Dominic, in tow. She asked that her last name not be used, because her husband works for the border guard and could face professional consequences for speaking with media.
Eliza and her five-year-old son, Dominic, outside Gruby Kaliber gun shop in Przemysl.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
Her husband carries a gun at work and he has a licence to own one personally. But he had never felt the need to keep a weapon at home, until now. “My parents remember the war, and what’s going on in Ukraine feels like World War II,” Eliza said.
It’s not easy to get a gun in Poland. The country has strict gun laws and it normally takes about three months to clear all the background checks necessary to own a rifle. Handguns are even harder to buy, and owners are registered with local police.
The government has been toying with changes to the law. Mr. Wiarski said that, if the reforms go through, the approval process could be streamlined.
Despite the hurdles, the number of buyers is growing.
Local businessman Ryszard Bus said he owns five guns, and now he wants one more. He spent Saturday looking for an AR-15 semi-automatic.
“It’s for protection,” said Mr. Bus, who is also a firearms instructor and director of a local hunting association. “We never know what will happen with Ukraine. And people from Ukraine will be coming and coming.”
He has been trying every shop in town and scouring online dealers, all to no avail. He pulled up the website of a popular gun store on his phone and started scrolling down the list of weapons. “Everything is sold,” he said. “I’ve never seen this before.”
On Saturday, Mr. Bus’s quest took him to Hubert, a gun and sporting goods store in downtown Przemysl.
He had tried to get through on the phone, but the owner, Mieczyslaw Wawrzkowicz, had been too busy fielding calls from local residents and a few rich Ukrainians looking to purchase everything he had. There has also been a surge in demand from Ukrainians for high-powered gun scopes, binoculars and other equipment.
“I’m supposed to close at 4 p.m., but I’ve had to stay until 5 every day,” said Mr. Wawrzkowicz, 72, who has owned the shop with his wife for 30 years. “Since the war started, it’s non-stop.” He, too, had nothing for Mr. Bus, and no idea when he’d get another order of bullets.
Mr. Wawrzkowicz said the main concern among most of his customers is the influx of refugees and the potential for Middle Eastern migrants to arrive in large numbers. He said people are worried that asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, who have been blocked from entering Poland from Belarus, will take advantage of the recent turmoil and travel through Ukraine instead. There is no evidence this is happening, but it’s a common refrain in town.
His biggest seller lately has been pepper spray. “Especially women. They want it for protection,” he said. As he spoke, a woman came in and bought two of his last canisters.
Jerzy Bialoglowicz, a local gun instructor, said Poles aren’t generally enthusiastic gun owners, and that the vast majority of those who have weapons are responsible. He said he has seen an uptick in interest in his gun training courses and has noticed that bullets have been harder to come by.
While he isn’t sure about the overall demand for guns, he added: “If people were thinking about buying a gun in the future, maybe this situation in Ukraine has helped make their decision.”
That was certainly the case for Eliza and her husband. As they perused the various handguns on display at Gruby Kaliber, her husband zeroed in on the popular CZ 75 semi-automatic pistol, which goes for around €600, or $860.
Sold out, Mr. Wiarski told him. “Maybe try next week.”
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