“Dealers and analysts have several theories [as to why gun sales have been soaring since President Obama took office]. One is that hardcore gun enthusiasts fear the lousy economy will set off a crime wave. Another is that political upheaval over the federal debt may lead to riots like those in Greece and London. Still another popular, if paranoid, belief that’s taken hold among gun-rights advocates: that Obama is waiting until he is reelected to separate Americans from their firearms, prompting worried gun owners to stock up in anticipation.” And here’s one msnbc missed: Americans are taking advantage of liberalized concealed carry laws to buy smaller handguns (which have passed long guns in popularity) to protect themselves from violent crime. Who’d a thunk it? [Click here for “U.S. Gun Sales Surge 15th Straight Month, Up 13.5%”]

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

56 COMMENTS

  1. Now you know why I call the network DEMS-NBC. It doesn’t even pretend to be impartial.

    My favorite DEMS-NBC promo is a pouting Chris Matthews complaining about people saying that Obama doesn’t love his country (I think Matthews is talking about the US, not Kenya). In any case, Chris, you putz, we didn’t say that POTUS doesn’t love his country. We said he’s turning it into a pile of crap. There’s a difference.

    My other favorite is when Rachel Maddow points to the Hoover Dam and reminds us that only the Federal Government could have built it. Hey, Rachel, have the Feds built anything since 1935? I mean, aside from its empire.

    • Nice discussion about the Hoover damn. It was built in four years without much automation.

      I recently saw a program on TV about updating the Hoover dam. The engineers talked about the proposed effort enthusiastically; and said it would take “ONLY”15 years just to get the Environment Impact Statement approved to modify an existing Dam, and change an existing reservoir, Lake Mead.

      What kind of dope are the eco-nitwits smoking? They have tied up every construction activity with miles of enviro-red-tape so that nothing can be built.

      I have heard others say we could never build the Interstate Highway System today. You could never get the EIS approved. I thought they were exagerating but NOW I believe it.

      It even rose up and bit one of their own. Mr. Obama who discovered that nothing could be built with a trillion dollar porkulus billl. There isn’t any such thing as a “shovel-ready” project anymore.

      • Sure. You know the so-called “Border Fence”? Well, the Congress specifically waived most of the existing environmental laws (NEPA, just for one) so it could be built as politically expediently as possible. And, of course, we all know that only parts of it were even built. It was really just for show, which is why the Congress wanted construction to get started so fast and waived those laws in the first place.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Mexico_barrier

  2. I’m a tad worried about demographics. A huge generation of urban and suburban dwellers are going to become officeholders and voters soon (if they haven’t already) with no interest in, or experience with, firearms. No personal interest in shooting usually translates to little interest in protecting and advancing those rights.
    To stretch the point a bit, imagine the next generation of gaming consoles with a battle sim that features ultra-immersive photorealistic graphics and a weapon shaped controller that fairly accurately mimics recoil and perhaps even the administrative handling aspects of it too? How many youngsters are going to crawl out of their parents’ basements on a chilly day to shoot a real firearm when a very close approximation is close at hand?

    • That is so far away from being a technical reality that it’s not really worth worrying about at this time. Actually, I think gamers are a demographic you absolutely do NOT have to worry about. There are a lot of people aged 18 to 34 that became interested in firearms because of video games. Not because they grew up with them, not because they were in the military, but because of games.
      Not to mention the technical hurdles from a game design standpoint. Not to mention that light gun games go back decades and they haven’t caused a disinterest in real firearms.That is so far away from being a technical reality that it’s not really worth worrying about at this time. Actually, I think gamers are a demographic you absolutely do NOT have to worry about. There are a lot of people aged 18 to 34 that became interested in firearms because of video games. Not because they grew up with them, not because they were in the military, but because of games.

      Not to mention the technical hurdles from a game design standpoint. Not to mention that light gun games go back decades and they haven’t caused a disinterest in real firearms.

      • Yep. My son (11) started shooting last year. He wanted to shoot his cousin’s AR15, M4gery, my M1 Garand, and Berretta 92FS because he’d been exposed to them via various video games. (Only problem is, he doesn’t like shooting real guns as much as virtual ones because— you don’t have to clean the ones in the games!)

      • Realistic graphics may be a challenge as would an affordable system that could emerse the gamer into a firefight but the technology is sort of here already.

        Just look up F.A.T.S. (Firearms Training Simulator). I used one when I was in the National Guard. The graphics sucked and we were shooting at weird targets (like a fedex truck driving on the surface of a lake) but it utilized a large screen television and a real M16 with a piston to simulate recoil. You actualy have to load and unload a magazine and had full use of the bells and whistles (charging handle, saftey/semi/auto, etc). They also had a set up for AT-4’s and Beretta 92s.

        Will this technology be easily and readily available to a teenager? Not for a LOOONG time, if ever. But it does exist.

      • I’m a 52 year old gamer. A large percentage of the people across the contry I game with are firearm owners, and they get as “into” guns as they do the games. Highly educated on different handgun models, etc.

  3. Yes, yes, yes and yes. The irony, bitter or delicious, depending on your perspective, cannot be ignored. However you look at it, the gun makers laugh all the way to the bank and the NRA, among others, stuff their war chests. “Thanks, ‘Bama!”

    Here’s another reason so many Americans have caught gun fever: they’re a blast to shoot. How many time have you seen a new shooter grin ear to ear when they first hit the target?

    Also, guns are wonderful little machines. We experience so much of our world through screens now, our cars are so tame and quiet; it’s a treat to pick up something so purely mechanical and work the levers and springs and make loud noises.

    Also, guns are relatively cheap to buy and run. Even in a down economy, most folks can scrape together $500 or $600 for a pistol and a few boxes of ammo.

    And shooting is a release. Frustrated? Go make some noise. Blow up a few milk jugs. Smile. Go home happy.

    I understand why msnbc would want to paint the phenomenon in negative terms, but I think most gun owners have as many positive reasons for owning guns as negative ones.

    • I agree. Shooting is great fun and I plan to continue regardless of politics. My niece riddled a target with her great grandfather’s Model 1911 issued to him in 1918. The target’s hanging on her wall at Tulsa University. Be afraid, boys. Be very afraid.

      Worry about a massive tax on ammunition, not a gun ban. As a reloader, I can make high quality .45 ACP rounds for about 15¢, a quarter the cost of commercial ammo. If I use a lead cast bullet, the cost is 6¢ per round vs 60¢ for Winchester white box. The key component is the primer, at 3.5¢. I have 16,000 primers, 80 pounds of powder, 15,000 pieces of brass and 1500 pounds of wheel weights. My equipment can make 30-06, 243, 45 ACP, 9 MM Lugar, 380 ACP, 10 MM, 40 S&W, 38 Special and 357 Magnum rounds.

      If Obama gets reelected, I’ll increase my consumables to enable me to shoot 100 rounds per week until he leaves office.

  4. I’d say yes to all the questions. The gun grabbers won’t be happy until only criminals own all the guns.

  5. The biggest reason I buy guns is because they bring me enjoyment.

    I’ve got to admit though that I do worry about crime if unemployment gets much worse. I think I’d still be buying guns but this influences the type of gun I buy (like getting something with night sights instead of target sights as an example- little things like that).

    • And your support for this statement is………? “White” people own far more of the legal firearms in the U.S., and have a lower crime rate, than “black” people, and “black-on-black” crime is much more common than interracial crime. You don’t have to believe me; go look it up for yourself. I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but racism hasn’t anything to do with this, though culture does.

      • I thought he was being facetious, poking fun at the Left’s tendency to ascribe any behavior by their political opponents as being motivated by racism.

        • Yeah, I think John momentarily misplaced his sense of humor.

          But I have to say, we had a horrible outbreak of black-on-black gun crime last weekend here in New York City. Mostly teenagers. Of course, Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed solution is to continue efforts to completely disarm responsible adults – black, white, or whatever.

    • I was wondering how many posts it would take before someone cried racist.

      Silly and irrelevant. Gun control began in order to keep guns out of the hands of negroes after the civil war.

      I read an article recently that – in one state – most new pistol carry permit holder applicants are women and that a majority of those women are negroes.

      So the issue “may” be “racist” after all, but not in your whiney little judgemental fashion.

  7. As a Californian living in the Bay Area I have no hope to ever obtain a CCW simply because no sheriff in the Bay Area grants a CCW unless the person is a friend of the sheriff, celebrity, politically connected. So the CCW argument doesn’t apply. I wonder what gun sales are in CA where most of the people can not get a CCW?

    In my case I just purchased a nice .380 that is easily concealed. Why? Because I’m getting older and want to become proficient with a small gun, outfitted with a laser, as those elderly years creep up. One less thing to worry about in the golden years. I don’t plan on roaming the streets with this gun, just living with it at home knowing just because I’m 6o doesn’t mean I’m at a disadvantage with someone a third of my age.

    • Old Salt,

      I too just bought a .380. A friend has a PPK with laser sights. In daylight, he has trouble seeing the dot. My BersaThunder 380 has nice adjustable sights and I am very pleased with the trigger. At first, I was worried about the cartridge not having enough stopping power especially if the attacker is drunk or on drugs. After trying several loads, I use a 90 grain 9MM Hornady XTP loaded to a muzzle velocity of 1,000 fps. The muzzle energy is 200 foot-pounds and the little XTP makes a big hole.

      A piece of advice. Shoot one handed without your glasses. The guys at the range get a big laugh out of me laying on my side shooting up at a target 10 meters away, but if some guy hits you from behind, that’s where you’ll need to start.

      BTW, you’re a youngster. I’m 67 and I’ve been shooting big bores since 1962, my plebe year at the Annapolis. Beat Army!

  9. TO: All
    RE: Heh

    Maybe these ‘experts’ should have waited to hear Jimmy Hoffa the Lesser’s comments yesterday.

    Regards,

    Chuck(le)
    [Those who beat their swords into plowshears will plow for those who didn’t.]

    P.S. And I notice that NO DEMOCRAT has—as far as I can tell, at this point—repudiated the outrageous statements made by Hoffa. That includes my State Senator who lives a couple of blocks away from me. And Obama followed him on the same stage and said he was ‘proud’ of Hoffa.

    Silence, under English Common Law, means agreement.

    We’re talking about ‘key indicators’—in Army intell parlance—here.

    It’s going to be an ‘interesting’ election cycle…..

  10. As long as I own a gun, my ex-wife won’t visit. They are, after all, magic talismans which turn sober working men into raging murderers. As least that is what they would do if she was around them.

    Yet, in her absence, I have yet to murder.

    That is the logic of gun control. The trigger pulls the finger. The gun aims the shooter. The bullet sends the firearm’s owner downrange to produce mayhem. Abandon logic, reverse cause and effect, and gun control makes sense.

  11. How do you know that the NRA did not secretly fund Obama? They knew that an avowed leftist can only help gun sales. Unfortunately, it does not help me. I sell bullet resistant clothing and my sales are pretty flat. So close yet so far.

  14. I want to see a breakout of where and when gun sales began to rise. Are people in urban areas worried about flash mobs? Are flash mobsters buying? If so, what are the demographics? For instance, are suburbanites buying weapons to protect themselves from urban hoodlums and gangs or are gangsters arming themselves for the war some people think is coming?

    • TO: Gary from Jersey
      RE: Interesting Questions

      I don’t have any answers for them. BUT, I would suggest that knowing what sort of weapons are being purchased could provide some additional clues.

      Regards,

      Chuck(le)
      [Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a “.4” — Marine Corps Rules for Gunfighting]

      • * Don’t bring “a” gun, bring all your guns.

        * Bring all your friends and all of their guns.

        I don’t know for sure if those are from the same Rules; I’m going from memory after many, many years.

        • One variant of the rules making e-mail rounds:
          0. You can lose. Don’t engage in combat you can avoid if it’s not worth your life.
          – “Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.” – Patton

          1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.

          2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.

          3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

          4. If your shooting stance is good, you’re probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.

          5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)

          6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

          7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

          8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.

          9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on “pucker factor” than the inherent accuracy of the gun.
          9.5. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME.

          10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

          11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

          12. Have a plan.

          13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won’t work.

          14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible. The visible target should be in FRONT of your gun.

          15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.

          16. Don’t drop your guard.

          17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.

          18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them).

          19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.

          20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.

          21. Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

          22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.

          23. Your number one Option for Personal Security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

          24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a “4.”

          25. There are no bonus points for shooting them in the front. (Matt Helm)

          26. The survivors write history.

          • TO: grayswindir, et al.
            RE: Heh

            That pretty much covers it.

            Regards,

            Chuck(le)
            [Now is the time for every man to take his purse and buy a sword. — Some Wag, around 2000 years ago….just before He was ‘arrested’, ‘tried’ and ‘murdered’ by the powers that be of His time.]

          • Thanks for reminding me about pucker factor. When I got back from govt sponsored vacation in Vietnam. I was asked if I ever fired a round in anger. I told them I fired several thousand in pure terror. Keep shooting till the threat is eliminated.

  15. Another reason to buy guns is as a currency.

    When the US dollar and Euro are both at risk of collapse, why keep money in the bank, when it might be better kept in the gun safe in the form of blued steel?

  16. As the Beatles sang, “Happiness is a Warm Gun (bang,bang,shoot,shoot).”

    “When I feel my finger on your trigger, I know NOBODY can do me NO harm…………..”

  17. Some conservative wags call Chris Mathews “Tingles” because of his insipid comment about an Obama speech: “I felt this thrill going up my leg”. No “fair and balanced” at MSNBC.

  18. Whay are guns sales up? Let me count the reasons… 1. The economy is as bad as it has ever been since the Great Depression, and shows no signs of getting better 2. Obama is doing his best to push the nation over a cliff and into chaos and anarchy 3. We’re all a bunch of “bitter” clingers to our guns and Bibles anyway 4. Second Amendment types love driving leftist anti-firearm types into a panic about those scary gun owners – pass the popcorn 5. When seconds count, the police are minutes away 6. Free people take responsibility for their own protection 7. Free men are de facto a militia in waiting, and thus have a responsibility to stay sharp; better to be prepared and not be needed than the reverse. Whew… all this typing is tiring me out… there’s more reasons, though, for those interested in adding to this list. One last reason gun sales are up – 8. Because Obama doesn’t support second amendment rights, that’s an additional incentive to buy more guns. Up yours, ‘Bama!

    • 9. ATF keeps buying guns by the pallet-load to ship to Mexican dopers, who use them to lay down cover fire while the DEA ships drugs into the US.

  19. TO: All
    RE: History Repeating Itself?

    The Democrats, via Jimmy Hoffa the Lesser, say they want “war”. [NOTE: And the Democrats, to a ‘man’, do not repudiate the call to “war”, offered by Hoffa the Lesser.]

    Being something of a student of history—it goes with the ‘truf’ of being a professional soldier—I’m reminded of another war the Democrats called for. It started 150 years ago, last April, with the Democrats of South Carolina firing on Fort Sumter.

    We all know how THAT ended.

    There are interesting parallels between that war and the one proposed by todays Democrats.

    Regards,

    Chuck(le)
    [Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.]

  20. ‘The right to own weapons is the right to be free.’
    – A. E Van Vogt

    ‘ A ballot that is not secured by force of arms is a worthless piece of paper.’
    – R. A. Heinlein

    The fanatic religious belief of the Progressives that we will bow down and worship
    a god constructed of legal paperwork and bureaucratic red tape is about to receive
    a resounding rebuke from the American people; The weapons are there to make sure they respect it, and are afraid to try and force the issue.

  21. Some valid points indeed. As for me, I will not go gentle into that good night. I will indeed rage against the dying of the light. No offense meant to the brave men and women of our varied and scattered police forces, but, when seconds count…

  22. Pretty good set of “rules”. Except for #24. I’ll bring my .357 and do OK.
    Nice that people still remember Matt Helm.

  23. TO: MikeinAppalachia
    RE: .357 mag & Rule #24

    “OK” doesn’t qualify as a ‘win’ if you’re up against someone truly determined or desperate or on drugs. It’s just a smaller version of a .38 with a little extra ‘umph!’

    Regards,

    Chuck(le)
    P.S. Ask the Rangers who rescued the downed SEALS during Operation ANACONDA, Afghanistan 2001.

Comments are closed.