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Gun Sales Soar Amid Fears of Barack Obama Weapons Ban
President Barack Obama may never have fired a gun but he is turning out to be one of the best firearms salesmen in American history.
"I've sold probably four times as much in the last six months as I have in 20 years combined," said Cliff Hunter, owner of Tommy Bronson Sporting Goods in Memphis. "Hand guns and the tactical weapons, they're absolutely off the charts."
Most of his gun sales used to be for hunting, or personal protection in a city riddled with crime. But just before the November election, anxiety that Mr Obama would win and enact a radical programme of curtailing gun rights began drove business right up.
"Obama's a liberal socialist and I think he's proven quickly how extreme he is," he said. "When they get through healthcare, guns are on the table. They're not talking about it but it's going to happen."
The FBI recorded a 49 per cent rise in gun background checks during election week compared to the same week a year earlier.
"Sales have been up 50, 60 per cent sinces Osama got elected," said Jay Hill, owner of the Classic Firearms gun store in Cordova, just outside Memphis, smiling as he deliberately mixed up the name of the US president with the leader of al-Qaeda.
"He speaks with a forked tongue. I don't trust him a bit."
Crime would always mean there was a demand for gun, especially in a state like Tennessee which is in the South and where permits to carry a concealed weapon are available.
This week, a travelling jewellery salesman who was ambushed by four men, at least two of them armed, pulled out his pistol and shot two of them. The other two would-be robbers fled as the wounded men lay moaning on the ground.
"Bingo," said Mr Hill. "They're in critical condition in hospital last time I heard. He had a hand gun and a legal carry permit, so he's back at home having dinner with the kids. Mark one up for the good guy."
While Mr Hill does not believe an outright ban would be attempted, he suspects that a "backdoor" attempt to limit gun ownership might be on the cards.
"What they want to do is limit the amount of handguns you can buy, assault rifles, things like that. The constitution doesn't say you have the right to keep and bear ammunition. A car's no good without gasoline so one way you can get to banning or controlling guns is by attacking the ammo."
Sales of high-end collectible rifles, which cost several thousand dollars, have fallen as the recession has deepened. But the value of military-style rifles such as the AR-15, a variant of the AK-47, had increased by at least 25 per cent.
This has made modern rifles a potentially lucrative investment. Some people are banking on Mr Obama introducing gun control legislation, a move that would lead to a hefty profit as demand soared and people scrambled to beat a ban on purchases.
A week before the election, Mr Hunter bought about 20 Sig .556 calibre rifles. "I'd probably sold six or eight of those in 20 years. I placed one call to an investment firm here in Memphis and within 45 minutes every one had been pre-sold.
"People are afraid they won't be able to get them in the future. Everybody's guessing what they [the Obama administration] are going to do. People are stockpiling ammunition. We're just starting to see more inventory on that but ammo is not slowing down." Americans, he said, would not allow their Second Amendment right to bear arms to be taken away from them.
"The country's divided but this is something that's dear to a true American's heart. It goes way back to the cowboy days when a gun was a man's most prized possession."
Jason Hart, 31, who was buying ammunition from Mr Hill's store, said: "I was raised not to have a gun. My mum told me to stay away from them. But we get four or five murders a day here in Memphis.
"Everybody else has guns, especially since Obama came in and people got afraid and started buying. I've been in a lot of situations where I was able to fight my way out because I'm a martial artist. But everybody has a gun I didn't want to be the only one without one."
149 Comments so far
Show AllA symptom of the social/moral and economic decay and the right wing spin that is put on it: we can descend into a medieval mindset where there is no physical security, no economic security. What next? Shall we all built a moat around our houses with barbed wire and booby traps?
Yes, and nearly all of those 5 murders a day in Memphis are no doubt gang-member scores being settled or psychopathic spouses or family members. Avoid joining a gang, dealing drugs, or unhinged relatives, and you will be safe. No gun needed.
And funny how there is so much violent crime in Memphis. Up here, north of the Mason-Dixon line, violent crime is way down maybe our slightly more generous-to-the-poor social policies have something to do with it? Tennessee is a scary-right-wing place.
The more scary situation is someone with a gun and extremist right-wing political beliefs. Remember El Salvador, Guatamala, the Nicaragua Contras and Colombia.
I am now entertaining fantasies of me or my wife getting gunned down on our electric scooter because someone will view us environmentalist-therefore-socialist-mortal enemies. People in Colombia have been killed for much less. I already get occasional catcalls and derisive mocking as it is.
Why am I not surprised? Obama is moving further to the right of Dubya in selling us out. I don't blame the gun sales much as I don't feel comfortable about the sales. But let's get real. Most gun owners are not violent. Maybe they want to defend themselves and even their loved ones and I don't blame them. Hell, when my father and uncle rescued me from my horrible date and his gang of creeps, they held their guns up to them and made them back off. I don't like the NRA style propaganda that goes way out of line but what's wrong with having the right to defend oneself especially at a time when government is not only failing to protect us but actually comprising our security? Obama is having a swell time bullying his own party into more war spending and bailing out Wall $treet and he will most likely use those same bullying tactics to further erode what's left of our civil rights and liberties. Obama may not be that dumb enough to step on the toes on law abiding gun owners who mean no harm or pose no threat but he could slide into doing so given his total regression so far these past 5 months. Maybe I'm too paranoid but I don't trust Obama so far for what he has done as president !
Sorry for such a blunt rebuttal, but how, for crying out loud, can you not see a threat in so many people with such utterly unhinged extreme, delusional political beliefs (Obama the socialist?!?) arming themselves to the teeth???
Technically, Obama is a socialist but only if they mean corporate socialist. While I wouldn't feel comfortable being surrounded with everyone having a gun, who can blame these people? Obama has no intention of doing away with the "Patriot" Acts I and II and is even expanding on them. And what about FISA? What about restoring privacy rights? If Obama took civil rights and liberties seriously, then this gun mania wouldn't be this bad.
I'd say the bigger issue is that the fellow quoted actually calls Obama a "liberal-socialist", which is, of course, a contradiction in terms.
Plus, ARE gun sales really up? I have yet to read one of these articles spouting that that actually shows nation-wide sales figures or anything other than single shop-owner anecdotes for that matter.
Yes, gun sales are up like never before. Only recently have the manufacturerers been able to start catching up to demand. Ammo and reloading components are scarce and on back-order for months.
Still not buying it till I see some actual figures. But its really a side issue, so I'll find them later.
What do you mean, 'side issue'? That's the whole point! If you want figures then go find them. You ever hear of 'search engine'?
Go to the sites of retailers like Cabela's, Sportsman's Guide, or wholesalers like Natchez and see what is available in ammo. Zilch. Go to the local gun shop and ask for powder or primers. Try the AR-15 manufacturerers sites for availabilty of their rifles.
Why do you have a hard time facing facts?
There is no such thing as a "coprorate socialist".
A government that supports wealthy capitalists is not socialist. If it was, that would mean Pinochet or Somosa or Uribe were/are are socialists. What would Allende, the Sandinistas or FARC be then?
Please learn the meaning of words. As Lewis Caroll explained in Alice in Wonderland, A word doesn't mean something just because you feel like it should have a certain meaning.
Believe me, if the government quit it's relationships with the corporations, and regulated the corporations more effectively, taxed corporate profit, capital gains and multi-million dollar estates fairly, instituted single payer healthcare, tougher environmental regulations, etc. The right-wingers would with Limbaugh commanding, would start a civil war. These people are NOT our allies in any way!
And rest assured, the gun nuts rather like the USA Patriot Act and restrictions on civil rights, since they are directed only at bad guys like muslims, or socialists like me.
If by "corporate socialist", you mean the government and corporations are in bed together that is NOT socialism that is FASCISM pure and simple. Obama is closer to that than socialism, I'm afraid.
Right-wingers on the radio have been pushing this bullshit since before Obama was sworn in. Nearly all of these people who are suddenly buying guns (and so much ammo that ammo is scarce throughout the country!!!) are mortally afraid Obama is going to turn us into a communist country! This has nothing to do with Obama continuing many of Bush's rightist policies. It all has to do with the tens of millions of retards who think Obama is going to turn into the next Chavez, become president-for-life, seize everyone's guns, seize all the banks, and redistribute the wealth to the nation's poor. You have no idea how crazy the right-wing radio shows have gotten over this. If you all want, I can post some of the segment's we've clipped at MMFA about this later.
I could agree that some of these people have been influenced by radio but if Obama had the courage to get rid of the "Patriot" Acts I and II and reverse his stands on FISA rather than continue the policies of eroding civil rights and liberties, the gun sales wouldn't be this high. I'll be happy to take a look at the clips you have to show since I don't listen to rightwing radio. Then I'll see what further judgements to make. Thanks.
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv
/200904150011
http://mediamatters.org/columns
/200904160001
http://mediamatters.org/research
/200904130001
http://mediamatters.org/research/
200904090030
That last one has several examples from several different people in it. And there are tons of instances that didn't make it onto our website.
Ok, I see what you mean and I'm not a wacko like them. I don't believe in such blatant anarchy. For me, one handgun is enough for defense and even there, that's the very last resort for me since I took lessons in wrestling and karate for some time. I cannot picture myself owning a boat load of firearms and ammo even if I had a lot of room to store them. I have also softened my opposition to gun control somewhat as I overcame the trauma from back in February but I'm still mixed on the issue.
I never thought you were a wacko, I just wanted to share with you the main motivation or the current gun craze...militia craziness part 2 basically.
Jennifer,
I don't think the uptick in gun sales has one thing to do with Obama's stance on the acts you mentioned. This is due to ignorant, baseless, AM-radio-communicating right wing-nut fear. And as we all should know, fear is a most dangerous thing. Especially in the wrong heads.
I understand that the monied elites are promoting a lot of the rightwing hate talk on the radio and I'm no fan of the NRA and the way it abuses money to propagandize just like Big Oil/Pharma/Insurance/etc... However, don't you agree that if Obama even tries to rescind the "Patriot" Acts I and II, reverse FISA, and bring back some privacy rights and civil rights and liberties that fewer people would be buying guns in fear? Maybe they feel angry, frustrated, and just plain fed up that there's no real hope or feeling of change for the better and I'm not talking about the staunch conservatives who opposed Obama from day 1 that he ran for office. Maybe I sound crazy but I just thought that if Obama did what I suggested and quit funding the wars and W$ bailouts, more people would soften up on guns and ammo buying for a change. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong but it's my understanding that when people are just angry and very unhappy that government is cheating them out of what they were promised, most of them will want to take the law into their own hands and will even resort to such desperate measures because the pols pushed them into such insanity. I'm not that crazy even if I do own just one handgun as a last resort to defend myself when I go out but I'm just trying to bring in some understanding to bridge the gap.
Right. There were no leftist monied elites promoting hatred and paranoia against, oh, say... the Bush administration, though. No, not at all.
You folks sure can dish it out - but you can't take it, though!
Poor babies :)
No, in fact, there weren't. The Bushies and their cronies were hogging every bit of hatred and paranoia in the country, so as with everything else, we were locked out.
Sorry to disappoint. :)
You know, you're right. There wasn't any hateful paranoia and fear-mongering about "Bush is an evil dictator" - nor is there now. Thanks for giving me the facts. I guess I was confused for a momnent.
Comment deleted because the recipient isn't worth my time.
Dubya and his gang brought the hate on himself. Enough said.
What hate? Ted said there wasn't any!
"Maybe I sound crazy but I just thought that if Obama did what I suggested and quit funding the wars and W$ bailouts, more people would soften up on guns and ammo buying for a change."
Perhaps, but gun ownership and gun violence precedes Obama by a long shot, so it's not really his fault. Whether he doesn't rescind this act, or doesn't hew to that promise, is just a small part of the whole picture. Americans are the way we are for a variety of reasons - too many for me to know. Some things that come to mind are a sense of entitlement (we want it all and we want it now), a huge feeling of frustration (we know we're getting screwed but believe we can do little to change it), by the insanely easy access to guns, by fear (we must protect what's ours - see entitlement above), by a dislike of each other, thus, a distrust of one another, and last but not least, by the diligence of the NRA to foment fear and discontent and to pay off our mis-representatives in Con-gress.
Yes, if Obama would do more to defuse the frustration and anger that runs deep in our society it would have a positive effect. However, he is not the cause, nor should he take the blame for this issue. I'm sure we could read all kinds of bleak things into Obama's short tenure (as some do), but that doesn't mean they'd be true.
Hi Ted, sorry for the late reply. I try not to let that entitlement and frustration feelings get in the way of things. I do agree with your assessment of the NRA and that's the main reason I've slowly gotten back to softening my opposition to gun control which came to me when I was in a dire situation. 9 out of 10 times, even if the victim had the gun, it would be the last thing to help him or her. I only would use it as a very last resort and I realize that the NRA only wants our money and could care less about the 2nd amendment. My apologies. I'm glad I came here to get my knowledge on the issue up to date. :)
Ted, you nailed it. Out here in LA, even in the best of economic times gun sales were never so low despite the high poverty rates. Even in Shreveport where I work at where the economy isn't as bad as the rest of the state, there are plenty of gun loving maniacs. Try to bring up the issue of gun control and they'll froth at the mouth and hiss. I had to give up even trying after getting sick and tired of being shouted "gun grabbing commie" in my face. Nearly every elected official in the state gets elected by assuring no gun control whatsoever. I cannot expect to sympathize too much with gun owners now that I know that their madness is more dangerous than even what the national politicians have in store for us.
Bennett Miller
Shreveport, LA
Yeah, I think it's that way in most places, other than some cities where residents have to dodge bullets on their way to anywhere.
The weird thing is that this issue really knows no political or ideological bounds. This is not the first piece on guns here on CD, but time and again there are a significant number of people who trot out the same line about their right to own guns. Not that they shouldn't, but there is no distinction between guns use for hunting and target, and those made and intended specifically to shoot people. None. Gun ownership in American runs in our veins, where blood runs as hot as our anger.
A coalition of right and left wing citizens is the only force able to overcome the corporate strangle hold.
And the fact that Hitler used such a coalition in his consolidation of power does not mean the stategy is wrong only that power can be applied to different purposes.
The right wing workers, as much as the left, know they are being driven into servitude by the corporate elite.
The left needs to disassociate itself from the Washington corporate toads and embrace their sufferring sisters and brothers.
The needs of left and right commoner go alot deeper than the differences.
In what alternate history did Hitler use a coalaition of left and right? Why did Niemoller write: "First, the came for the socialists..."
And on what planet are leftists associating themselves with corporate toads in politics?
Where I work, my employer (The US Dept of Labor-Mine Safety and Health Administration) has recently issues a directive to turn computers, printers and copiers off at the end of the day. But the memo had to "disguise" these conservation measures as computer security measures, for fear of an angry backlash from the Limbaugh-listening employees for imposing green-socialism on them.
These people are kooks, I will not ally myself with them.
Author - you appear to have no knowledge of firearms and you should have your work checked by someone who does before you publish. The AR-15 type is a US design. The AK47 is a Soviet design.
I'm sorry to say that most British don't know diddley-squat about guns, Blue_dog. In "The Dogs of War", for example, Frederick Forsyth writes that the Israeli Uzi submachine gun is *heavier* than the WWII German MP-40.
But then, if you grow up in a country (or US state, for that matter) that has gun laws that suck, you won't know your posterior from second base about them ...
Yes, but isn't it odd that in spite of nobody owning or carrying guns, even the police when on routine beat, they have such a low rate of violent crime.
We are a bit off topic but: maybe the average UK citizen don't know much bout guns, but the British imperialist class shure does.
Ever heard of the Carlyle Group? Janes? BAE Systems? Don't fool yourselves abour our British Jr. (formerly Sr. Imperialists) Imperialist cousins cross the pond.
Check out the world's top public source (Janes, a UK organization) of information about weapons and "defence" http://www.janes.com
Please don't make sweeping generalizations before you do your homework
Yet another sign of the deeply deluded state of the American collective psyche. Fear is rampant, usually of erroneous threats, while actual threats go unnoticed. Rumors are spread about "Obama gonna get yer guns" and like a pack of lemmings millions of people are buying guns. Guns aren't going to protect them from the Wall Street financiers and military industrial complex titans selling them down the river, but they have yet to figure that out.
Nobody told gun-owners or spread rumors that Barry-O is going to go after the guns. They figured that out for themselves and acted accordingly. You might sorta kinda wanna try knowing just what you're talking about before you start smearing a large group of people. I think the words for that are 'bigot' and 'prejudiced.'
See my several examples that I posted earlier.
I did!
Wow, dont trust Obama but trust Bush the dictator of all dictators.
"Bush the dictator of all dictators" Are you for real?
"I'M THE DECIDER"
How quickly we forget the Bushmonkey's illiterate attempt to destroy the constitution and democracy.
Guns are Good. Big Government is bad. Living in Redneck states is scary. You gotta be armed in case your crazy hillbilly neighbors get drunk and start shooting the place up.
Liberals have to get over their fear of guns. I want educated Liberals to be armed to the teeth, not just inbred right wing nut-jobs. But as posters have pointed out, at the end of the day, we must all get on the same team and resolve to reform this out-of-control Frankenstein government (Federal Mafia is more like it.) We did it before in 1775. The South refused to ratify the constitution in 1788 unless a promise was made to include a bill of rights. (which Hamilton of central bank infamy opposed.)
We must all embrace ALL ten amendments of the constitution, not just the ones you like. There was a very good reason the founders put the second amendment in there. It was to prevent Redcoat troops from being the only ones armed!
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Deepa
"Gun Sales Soar Amid Fears of Barack Obama Weapons Ban"
The rationale for owning a gun by Americans is: "for security". That means, "security" within the US. Who is "secuirty" threat for the gun-wielding Americans? Fellow Americans!!!
If Americans are "security" threat to fellow Americans, how can the US government and its public expect other sovereign countries to turst US and its rhetoric of "democracy" "freedom" and "security"???
Exactly! It absolutely isn't an example of those things you list.
The US may very well become the greatest basket-case nation of violent chaos that the world has ever seen - marauding armed extremist thugs that will make the death-squad era of El Salvador look like Disneyland.
If the other story of 38 people killed by White Vigilantes in the area of Algiers in New Orleans has any truth to it it can get very ugly in an awfuly short time.
I remember that story, it was posted on here a few months ago...the only place I ever heard of it.
Yeah, you know what the hell you're talking about. The basket cases are the paranoid "progressives" (sic) in these comments!
This is not news. Gun sales have been soaring since the election. Even the MSM has reported on it.
This is all stupid, but if the stupids have extra money to spend - let them waste it on guns. Might be better if they just "go shopping".
This is nothing, compared to President Obama's theoretical threat to ban new coal plants. The mercury monsters have been popping up like mosquitoes after a month of rain.
The statistic may be somewhat old by now, but I recall hearing that most people who own guns will either kill themselves or someone they know with their weapon.
Personal defense against criminals is a rare use of a gun. What's being defended with the gun is more psychological than physical.
Notice the emphasis in this article of defending against "socialism." Obama is precisely the opposite of a socialist. He's more in tune with the capitalist class than even George Bush was - if that's possible.
Probably, the rubes mean to say that they want to defend themselves from Stalinist-style communism, which is just an anachronistic absurdism. They aren't getting poor here in the United States because of socialism or communism. These folks just can't handle the truth.
Ironically, the only hope for the country is if red-state rubes finally do embrace socialism and reject funneling their tax dollars to wasteful militarism, which hasn't done a thing for them but has killed many hundreds of thousands needlessly.
Socialism simply means taking care of everyone's basic needs. While defense is part of that, it's not everything. The United States spends as much for defense as nearly the rest of the world combined.
It's a rube's world we live in.
-TIA
TIA, good point: most people know nothing about socialism as a theory or practice; and its many forms and complexities. Webster Tarpley is a good contemporary source to read and of course Marx himself is as relevant as ever, 150 years later.
The corporate oligopoly media simply portrays socialism as a meaningless buzz-word:
Socialism = Evil
Rigged Market Vulture Capitalism = Freedom
No analysis or history required to undersand, just hear and obey.
As far as your gun factoid: I am afraid that is urban legend. While many people that own guns do not know how to use them properly, and they are very dangerous, if most folks killed themselves or friends/family we would have a far smaller population. Just look at gun ownership rates in the USA and this becomes very clear