Posted on 03/23/2009 1:40:16 PM PDT by edzo4
PLYMOUTH, Mass. - The popular handguns are on back order. Some kinds of semiautomatic rifles are even harder to get. Ammo, too, is at a premium. In short, the gun industry is weathering the recession just fine.
In Massachusetts and across America, the recent surge in gun buying has been fueled by fears that President Obama will restrict gun rights, and by creeping anxiety about crime and the economy.
“It’s a tug-of-war between the anxiety of the general public and their lack of money,” said Andrew Molchan, president of the Professional Gun Retailers Association. “Right now, anxiety seems to be winning out.”
FBI background checks required for gun purchases – a key indicator of sales – spiked nationwide around the November election. In Massachusetts, there were 36 percent more background checks in January and February than in those months last year.
Manufacturers have been unable to keep up with the sudden surge in demand, gun dealers said.
Last week, Springfield-based manufacturer Smith & Wesson reported a 26 percent rise in its quarterly profits, with handgun sales up 46 percent. After a steep decline, the company’s stock price has soared 250 percent since October.
(Excerpt) Read more at wickedlocal.com ...
The number of checks has spiked in Massachusetts and nationwide, according to the agency's National Criminal Investigative Service.
MASSACHUSETTS
July 2008 2,658
Aug. 2008 3,463
Sept. 2008 3,325
Oct. 2008 4,002
Nov. 2008 5,501
Dec. 2008 4,662
Jan. 2009 4,539
Feb. 2009 4,711
NATIONAL
July 2008 891,224
Aug. 2008 956,872
Sept. 2008 973,003
Oct. 2008 1,183,279
Nov. 2008 1,529,635
Dec. 2008 1,523,426
Jan. 2009 1,213,885
Feb. 2009 1,259,078
“Fears of crime and the economy?”
This “fear” seems to have started the day after the election.
I think it is more like the coming Obama ACORN/Hitler Jungend Afrika Korps Brownshirts.
Concealed carry permit applications in Florida have skyrocketed.
More armed citizens for the coming necessary retaking of the nation. I’m far more concerned about crime perpetrated by Big Brother than by the more ordinary sort of thug.
It’s about the dishonest of this president.
He’s not to be trusted when he says he won’t restrict the ownership of firearms.
You know what I find fascinating? Here in the US we sold almost enough weapons to civilians in December to equip the People's Liberation Army Ground Force, at 1.7 million members the largest army in the world. IN ONE MONTH!
Not quite. In many states, the holder of concealed handgun license, or equivalent, can purchase firearms without the check, on the theory that it's already been done. It depends on the states' requirements for getting a CHL. I should know, since I recently jumped on the "buy an intermediate power carbine" bandwagon, from a dealer, sans background check. The dealer was quite happy not to need to run the check. (Actually I only bought a stripped lower receiver, the rest is "on back order".)
President Clinton signed the law in 1994, banning or severely restricting 19 types of semiautomatic military-style rifles...
Nineteen? Yes, the law started out with 19 and it was over a hundred just as soon as Clinton could go through with "I'm going to stretch this as far as I can." The problem is not that firearms owners have fear and paranoia, but that we have pretty good memories, that the Democrats have shown bad faith repeatedly in the past and that the media will happily lie to cover up for them.
He never said that. He said, and the Agenda page of the White House web site continues to say, that he wants to ban all sorts of guns. Just not sportsman's guns.
From that sight:
Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.
Requiring guns to be "childproof" would ban bunches and bunches of them. The Tihart amendment was about restricting gun trace information from big city politicians, who want to sue gun dealers, not about restricting information needed to solve crimes.
I shudder to think what The One might consider to be "common sense measures", but I gaurantee that the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center would love them.
Just since October, when it became pretty clear that The Messiah, would be elected, that's 6,709,303 weapons. And as I posted above, that's not quite all of them, since some folks don't need to go through the background check. Truly a weapon behind every blade of grass. Or in these parts, behind every cactus plant, cedar "tree", and mesquite bush. :)
So you are the one who dried up the 5.56 ammo supply. I'm still waiting on a measly 500 rounds, and wishing I'd ordered 1,000.
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