I’ve heard stories since the reelection of Barack Obama that sales of firearms and related accessories are through the roof. We’ve even posted one or two things about panic buying (and may have participated ourselves a bit). But now that I have actual hard proof, its time to make it official. Barack Obama is the best firearms salesman in the history of the world ever . . .

It started with one of my FFL friends telling me about 3,000 SureFire Magazines flying off the shelf in a couple days. BTW, by the time that posted, they had sold 3,600 and were out of stock at the distributor level. Aim Surplus has a big-ass sticker on their home page warning of increased wait times for processing. And the CEO of Primary Arms gave me a heads up that there were no black PMAGs to be had, and the stock they do have is going fast.

While all of these things are indicators of increased sales, I didn’t have any numbers to back the idea up. Panic buying was still an unconfirmed rumor. But thanks to New Frontier Armory‘s president, I now have some concrete numbers.

For the period of 7 Nov 12 to 16 Nov 12 compared to the period one month prior (7 Oct 12 โ€“ 16 Oct 12) our in store and web sales combined (retail only) are up 176%.ย  Wholesale sales from our MFG side is up 235% for the same period comparison.

New Frontier Armory makes polymer AR-15 lower receivers as their niche in the market, but they also do the standard aluminum ones. And a 235% bump in sales is definitely not a hiccup.

They also run a retail store in Las Vegas, NV. David shared some insight as to what the mindset of the shoppers is like:

I’ve had a number of higher net worth individuals come in and just clear the shelf. One of them bought every colt AR15 I had on the rack. Another bought every single Lancer AWM 5.56 magazine I had on the shelf.

Remember, gun owners are not short of opinions and irrationality. You could have a retail store with 20 people in it browsing and not buying anything and all it takes is ONE GUY to walk in, buy all the 9mm off the shelf or buy all of one type of magazine, or all three AR15’s on the rack – andย suddenlyย the other 19 people in the room are going “Oh shit, maybe this guy knows something” and then they start buying and then the cycle repeats. Same thing with internetย anecdotesย  Nearly everyone knows of or has seen the one guy buying all the whatever and they say it on the internet and pretty soon everyone else is doing the same thing. It’s textbook domino theory.

There’s a concept called “sympathetic fire” where if one person starts shooting at a standoff then everyone else does as well. Sounds like the same mentality is alive and well in people’s shopping habits, too.

 

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44 COMMENTS

    • Get a Yugo AK-47 Pistol (Draco) from Classic Firearms. It is an awesome gun. It feels and sounds like you are sending thunderbolts down range.

      Also get a Saiga 12 shotgun. Most awesome shotgun ever. Be sure to get plenty of 10 and 12 round magazines plus a drum.

  2. A couple of stores reporting higher gun sales and or higher total store sales is a limited non-scientific poll. Buying accessories and firearm associated products from ammo to holsters to scopes are not actual firearm sales. I’ve spoken with three LGS and none of them have experienced increased panic buying of more guns since the election. LGS stores local to me have said that accessory buying continues to be good with emphasis on high capacity mags, ammo (and probably tactical products too) for the AK and AR platforms, ammo for .22LR, etc. My LGS have all told me that re-loading supplies and related equipment are increasingly hot sellers.

    Personally, I do plan on ordering the Winchester Camp/Field Combo Pump Shotgun very soon (18″ and 26″ barrels).
    http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/detail.asp?family=021C&mid=512257

    • This. I’m also calling BS in cherry-picking the 235% number.

      I know this is a blog, not an officially journalistic news operation, but still…

    • I have yet to have difficulty finding Pmags either online or in local stores, yet I keep hearing about how they are flying off the shelves faster than suppliers are able to keep them in stock. I’m also seeing abundant supplies of Surefire mags.

    • Thanks for your replies above. One are of currently in-demand local categories of firearm and ammo sales is in response to hunting season along with some buyers who have a secondary priority to become more adapt at supplying their own meat in the form of wild game both for health and budget reasons. There are a number of people in Oregon who are struggling to keep feeding their family and take care of other expenses. The prices in grocery stores just keeps increasing.

  3. Well looks like I am going to have to buy more brass, lead, bullets and powders, and more calibers of reloading dies.
    Crap I guess that shoots the hell out of a new 1911 for my tax return next year!!
    Damn impulse buyers making me do this!!!
    LOL!!!

  5. Seems to me that if the gun grabbers had been smart, they would have pushed for Romney rather than Obama. Now the gun grabbers have to contend with a whole lot more guns on the street. Even if for the moment a lot of guns are in the hands of a smaller number of people (due to gun owners usually having more than one gun), if a ban goes into effect and prices go up, sooner or later these multiple guns will be sold (at obscene profits) to more people. Romney would not likely have kicked off this panic buying and after all, he is a closet gun grabber.

    I do wonder if everyone’s worst case scenario pans out and a ban does ultimately go into effect, people who didn’t buy, but thought about it will be like those folks who thought about buying Apple stock back when it was only $100 or so a share.

    If I had cash burning a hole in my pocket, I might consider picking up some “investment guns.” I think if I did that, I would almost certainly be looking for complete units from name brand manufacturers. In a post gun ban world, that Colt AR 15 is likely to appreciate in price a whole lot faster (and greater) than that AR-15 you built in your basement with a no-name lower and a bunch of parts. Plus, if you purchase name brand guns, even if the ban never happens, you probably will be able to recoup the costs of your investment better than the guy with a safe full of no-name homebrew ARs.

    • The gun grabbers keep shooting themselves in the foot. The 1994 Assault Weapon Ban had little effect because very few people owned those guns at the time… but the ban itself made them highly desirable. After the ban expired, they are now the most popular guns in America. Because they are now so popular, it would be an easy for any court to label them as “common” firearms. Gun-Grabbers loose again.

      • Any new ban would ban ownership so buying wouldn’t work. BUT NO BAN will pass a GOP House so this is all a waste of time.

  6. I bought 4 AK-47 in the last month in different configurations and calibers… in addition to the 4 I bought earlier this year. If Obama hates AK’s so much… they must be the best guns on earth ๐Ÿ˜›

    I have also bought about 5o hi-cap mags for different guns I own. I even bought hi-cap mag for guns I don’t own yet.

    The Obama Gun buying panic is the best thing for everybody all around…. Regardless if a ban comes to pass or not. The more guns out there the harder to enforce a ban. Also the more common AK-47’s are… the more favorable the Supreme Court will look upon them.

    • “Also the more common AK-47โ€ฒs areโ€ฆ the more favorable the Supreme Court will look upon them.”

      As an attorney, I’m having a hard time following your logic on this point. Please explain?!

    • Obama also slammed cheap handguns in the debate regarding the violence in Chicago. By that logic, are we also to say that Hi-Points are the best guns on Earth? :p

      • My NAA Mini revolver is my #1 carry gun ant only cost about $200. I trust it with my life.

        I have a lot of other cheap guns too, like Cobra and Jennning’s. They are just fun to shoot and mine never committed any crimes… Why should they be banned?

        • Really? A Hitler reference is the best you can do? That’s just weak and lazy.

          Besides, there isn’t a lot left for the anti-gun crowd beyond “cheap guns make it too easy to kill people” and “assault rifles OMGWTF”. Have a little sympathy for those struggling to make sense of a world where you can’t blame gun violence on restrictive gun laws. (Or not. Heh.)

  7. While everyone is stocking up on AR stuff, I have been happily been able to purchase a S&W K-14, K-17 and K-38 for a decent price.

  8. You guys have misinterpreted Obama’s anti-gun rhetoric. It’s an economic stimulus program. Firearms and ammo are still mostly a made in USA industry. More guns and ammo, more Americans working. /not completely tongue in cheek.

  9. The real numbers on “Obama gun sales” will come out when the FBI releases their NICS checks for the months of October and November. Given the way the FBI has been the lap-dog of the administration, it is entirely possible that those numbers will be delayed by “technical difficulties” if the percentage of NICS checks goes up by a very large amount over last year’s numbers for the same month.

    I am sure the investigative teams at TTAG will be ready to report those numbers as soon as they are made available to the public. Stay tuned.

  10. Just went to the FBI’s NICS web site. Here are the numbers for October:

    October 2011 – 1,340,273
    October 2012 – 1,614,032

    The November/December numbers will tell us if this is a bump or a trend.

    • What, no retraction of your conspiracy theory in the previous post?

      Also, please substantiate your comment regarding the FBI. I’d like to understand what paranoid delusions are circulating regarding the Bureau these days.

      • Would that be the same FBI that participated in the Justice Department’s Fast & Furious gun running efforts into Mexico, by telling the gun dealers that the ATF-approved purchasers (who were convicted criminals) did NOT have criminal convictions? Or would that be the FBI with the crime lab that falsified reports over a period of 20 years? Or the FBI that has infiltrated civil rights groups since the 1960s?

        Please substantiate your child-like faith in federal police agencies that have demonstrated their institutional corruption.

  11. Are you guys still here typing blog comments? Holy crap, man. Get out there and buy more guns before they’re all gone!!!! Hurry!

    LOL!

  13. Yes like any election year theirs massive buy offs. No surprise either. but the author of this post also agrees with me some if not alot are buying not because a bans coming (Which it most probably wont) its over fear of horrible prices and the raise in prices due to these panic gun buys. Nick Leghorn bought a Romanian AKM not because he thinks there banned in a month BUT the price was nice and prices to to idiot panic buyers will make any AK or AR a normal plinking gun a $500 sell for $2000 in the future so many buy now not to give $15,000 to greedy jerk gun dealer.

    Whats your take Mr. leghorn???

  14. Bill Maher said it best when he said, “Since the economy won’t come back until we start buying stuff, and the only stuff Americans buy is anything from Apple or guns…Apple has to make a gun.”

    Seems like a plan if you want to get the hipsters in.

    • Ah the new Iphone7PDW!!!
      3 rounds of .38spec with a biometric fingerprint trigger.
      If someone tries using your phone that does not have their print scanned in the new IPhone will give 3 short beeps and then proceed to shoot you in the hand by use of X-ray assisted heat detection to determine where your hand and ear are located!!!

      • If Apple made a gun, it would:
        – come only in white Cerakote
        – incorporate a GPS chip, dual video cameras recording the owner and the “recipient”, and on board flash memory
        – fire high-expansion caseless ammo at rifle velocities
        – look too light to be a proper gun, yet quickly prove to be as effective as anything short of .50AE due to its user-selectable shot optimization system which introduces millisecond-level delays in cartridge ignition until projected trajectory aligns with a vital organ or nerve center
        – need to be charged nightly, leading to booming aftermarket in “charging holsters”

  16. Man I knew it!!!
    Should have gotten my FFL manufacturer license prior to the election.
    If I could have gotten setup then…..

    I would be making millions!!! Said devilishly while my mini me humps the leg of the Israeli supermodel standing next to me! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  17. Well, although to the casual observer I might appear to be just another OFWG buying more guns that I don’t need right after Hussein got reelected, it really is the fault of Centerfire Systems for putting about fifteen different versions of Vepr rifles on sale for a third off their regular price.

    Right before election time.

    Crafty devils.

    1.5mm receivers, heavy barrels, walnut furniture sweetness… I couldn’t help myself! ๐Ÿ™‚

  19. I went into an LGS on 11/7 to pick up an AR, and my DROS number was 167. That was sale number 167 in the state, starting at 10 a.m. when the gun stores opened. It was 10 in the morning. My brother wnet to the same store that night and his number was in the 600 series. That was at around 4 pm.

  21. I keep talking myself into, and out of, buying an AR15 that I don’t even really want. I already have an M1A and my service time was USN and submarines so I was never exposed to the M16 and don’t know much about them. The pro side is as a political statement and investment, kept NIB it will only appreciate in value. (I’ve never heard of a new firearm getting cheaper.) The con side is that’s $1000+ that could be spent on more reloading supplies and tools for the guns I already own. Even if I choose “none of the above” in a years time the money will have been spent. Anyone care to talk me into or out of it?

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