Gun shop stunt makes would-be buyers rethink weapons' ability to protect

Several New Yorkers have walked into a gun store ready to buy their first weapon but left empty handed a short time later and with a new opinion about guns' ability to keep them safe.

When the potential customers entered into the newly-established store they all told the friendly clerk a similar story about wanting to buy a firearm for protection.

But after learning the history of the weapons on sale the would-be shooters' questioned the reasoning that had led them to seek a gun.

"This is a nine millimetre semi-automatic, it's a very handy gun" the clerk tells one potential customer.

"It's easy to use, carry it in your purse like that gal from the Walmart. Two-year-old son, reaches into her pocketbook, pulls it out shoots her."

"Dead. Gone. No mom," the salesman says as his male customer listens in shock.

Later in the video the clerk shows a customer an AR15 assault rifle.

"Collectors love this one," he says.

"Adam Lanza's mom had this in her collection too, until he took this and several other guns and killed her then went down to Sandy Hook, killed six teacher and 20 innocent children."

The clerk continues to recount tales of shooting tragedies to customers as customers enquire about different firearms, convincing them that guns do not make their owners safer and are more likely to lead to a fatal shooting.

The video was created by anti-gun lobby group States United to Prevent Gun Violence and posted online yesterday.

The group is a non-profit organisation that believes Americans have "the right to live in a country free from the fear, loss, and grief caused by gun violence.

While the video is powerful it is unclear if other potential customers reacted differently to the horror stories with gun ownership very high in the United States and many people vehemently opposed to government controls on firearms.