Steve Hardy completes a sale on a handgun as sales are brisk on guns and ammunition due to fears about President-elect Barack Obama's previous gun law votes Thursday at Hardy Gun and Loan at 1624 Aetna St. in Burlington.
Posted on 11/14/2008 2:00:14 PM PST by iowamark
Just as the masses went to the polls on Election Day Nov. 4, the crowds have been at gun stores since the presidential election's outcome.
Gun stores across the country have recorded a large increase in business since Democrat Barack Obama won the presidency, and the trend has been seen locally as well.
Some people fear Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress will attempt to impose new limits on gun ownership rights under the Second Amendment.
"I just sold seven today," Steve Hardy of Hardy Gun and Loan in Burlington said Tuesday. "The sales started two weeks before the election and the day after the election."
Hardy said sales in all categories of guns have increased, but assault rifles and high-capacity weapons have been the most popular.
"Whatever is on the shelf is out," Hardy said. "And it's at least a week-and-a-half before shipments come in. The biggest concern now is suppliers."
Hardy said he has heard stories from other gun store owners and suppliers about customers lining up and down the block from a store's front door waiting their turn to buy.
Hardy said his customers are saying what others across the country are fearing, that Obama will significantly cut back on gun-ownership rights for all kinds of guns. Hardy said Obama does not want people to have a carry permit and voted against everything about gun ownership while a senator in Illinois.
"They want to 'get it while I can,' " Hardy said about his customers. "I can see it happening. It's just a matter of time."
Current sales at Hardy Gun and Loan are rivaling what President Clinton did with gun ownership rules. In November 1993, during Clinton's first term, he approved the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period after purchasing a handgun, and the dealer had to report the sale to local law enforcement to do a background check on the buyer.
The bill was named after James Brady, press secretary to President Ronald Reagan who was severely wounded during the assassination attempt on Reagan in March 1981.
John Klopfenstein of Guns Ltd. in Mount Pleasant said his gun sales have been "nuts" since the election. He thinks politicians' stance on restricting gun ownership has an opposite effect.
"Tell somebody they can't have something, and they go out and buy it," he said. "People are scared to death."
Like Hardy, Klopfenstein said his suppliers are having a hard time keeping anything in stock. Days after the election, Klopfenstein said one supplier was selling about $100,000 worth of product a day.
If it's not for personal ownership, Klopfenstein wonders how many of the sales are as an investment, related to a desire for financial gain if certain types of weapon sales are eventually banned. He said when the AK-47 assault rifle was under scrutiny, many people purchased one knowing they could sell it for three times the purchase price.
"People who don't need a 47 just bought it for an investment," he said.
Obama did say during his presidential campaign that he favors reinstating the expired ban on the sale of assault weapons, but also said he "respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms" and "will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns," according to FactCheck.org
Under the campaign's Urban Policy section, Obama wrote that he and Sen. Joe Biden "favor common-sense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof."
Klopfenstein said changes in gun laws are the biggest reason why gun sales increase.
"Obama already promised to make the Brady Bill a walk in the park," he said. "Obama will make Clinton look like a saint."
Complementing the increase in gun sales is a spike in applications needed to carry a concealed weapon.
"We're getting buried down here with new permit (requests)," said Lt. Brett Grimshaw of the Des Moines County Sheriff's Department, which approves or denies the permits. "And it's been this way ever since the election."
Grimshaw said his office normally averages five permit applications a week.
"This week alone we've done 16, and there is another 10 or 12 in the basket waiting for background checks to be completed," he said.
Grimshaw said the applicant's criminal background is researched, including whether the person had lived in and been involved in a crime in another state.
"Most people, their records are clean, but there are certain convictions or situations that can deny the permit," he said.
Those reasons include felonies, domestic abuse, having been in a mental institution, illegal residents, dishonorable discharge from the military and protection orders.
Grimshaw said he talks to applicants who have a criminal background about their application.
During his 20 years in the department, Grimshaw said every presidential election has caused an increase in the interest in gun ownership.
"One person says something about gun laws, and the next person embellishes it," he said.
Bump.
People also now buying because they fear the worst. My best friend has never been anti-gun but also never wanted one. Yesterday he called and is going to buy his first one. His reason is the economy and the disaster he thinks this nation will become. He fears a break down in society and that Obama will only make things much worse.
Funny how none got the idea to vote for a ban on the Marxist terrorists like Ayers and Obama who gunned down Brady and President.
Shop guy is a FREDHEAD!!!!
The Burlington Hawkeye is a traditional newspaper. Neither left nor right, for the most part.
This is all reminding me of Y2K days.
Party like it’s 1999.
HORMEL FOODS struggling to keep up with SPAM demand... Developing...
Fear of a coming crisis; fear of Obama.
“This is all reminding me of Y2K days.”
Y2K came and went as a non-event. Sadly, I think that will not be the case with Obama and gun rights...
I’m not as concerned about the Obama administration confiscating my firearms. I’m more fearful of some crazy skin head successfully picking Obama off and the rioting that would result. I don’t want a brick in my temple like the Rodney King riots.
My wife’s uncle preaches in Altoona. She got a call last night (we live in Mississippi), saying there is a ammo and gun run in Iowa.
So I go to the store, buy me a new 12 guage, 2 boxes of birdshot, 2 buckshots and slugs each, and 2 boxes of .45ACP. And some .410 for the boy.
Well, the stock market may have tanked, but the value of my gun collection went up about 30% the day after Obama was elected.
I’m liking that new Smith and Wesson 500..
Although ARs are not my favorite rifles, I will note that stripped AR-15 lowers (from respectable manufacturers) are still reasonably priced. A word to the wise...
The Right did not come from him, it comes from Him. Only He can cut them back. The One can try to violate, or dare I say, infringe upon, them, but he can't cut them back.
Why?
Interestingly enough, in the coming year(s) we may find out if the BATFE has been keeping a database in violation of the law. ( I think the answer is they have, I’m just waiting for the admission )
If you have to register them your on paper. Learn how to make your own bullets also.
stop putting money in your 401k invest in bullets and powder. your 401 may lose value but guns and ammo don’t.
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