[reaganaut1]

I agree with the following comments posted on the WSJ site:

'Nice title for an article...particularly from a financial newspaper...are you kidding me? Sounds like most of these people are making investments based on how they believe the market for guns would react should they become exceedingly scarce via legislation. The article reads better than the title would foretell. If you guys wrote the title that way to grab attention for your article then "good job." Otherwise, it implies that gun owners in general are fearful and greedy and I hope that is not what you intended.'

[Travis McGee]

The following is a public service announcement.

Here's my tip of the month: there is still a great pistol and ammo deal out there waiting for you. If you have waited too long to arm up, or if you want one more, look at the excellent milsurp CZ-52 pistol and 7.62X25 Tokarev ammo.

You can get a CZ-52 for about $200 at any gun show or at many gun stores. The ammo can be had for as low as 11 cents a bullet in any quantity you want. Extra mags are from $12 to $20 each.

The milsurp ammo is full metal jacket, firing an 85gr bullet at 1,600fps. These will go through car doors, kevlar helmets, kevlar vests etc like an icepick through butter. OTOH, they will also go through one bad guy and maybe hit a good guy behind him.

However, you can buy hollowpoints ("Wolf Gold" with brass shells) for about $19/50, or half the price of comparable 9mm JHPs. My test "Wolf Gold" JHP ammo expanded to .60 caliber, the same as my test 9mm JHPs.

So for $400, you could buy a CZ-52, 1,500 rounds of assorted ammo, and a few extra mags. OR, you could buy about 2/3s of a "brand name" pistol, and no ammo.

It's just a thought. This is a great bargain. The ammo is cheap and plentiful at all of the internet catalog sites. Don't wait, the libtards will soon slam the door on foreign gun and ammo imports, and the prices will go way up.

Another benefit of this pistol is that it is very accurate, with very fine sights. WIth this flat-shooting ammo, you can hit at 100 yards with ease. Downsides are brittle firing pins (buy a spare, and don't dry fire) and a decocking function that you should not trust. Just lower the SA hammer like a 1911. The safety works like a 1911, so if you are used to 1911s, it will be very easy to use the CZ-52

[Joe Brower]

I never buy a firearm with any intention of selling it. Over the years I've given a few to friends and relatives, but for monetary investment only? No, they are worth much more than mere money.

[Teacher317]

could triple in value. "A guy could easily make a lot of money," says Mr. Chambers

So now all speculation and attempts to increase one's pocket-money are "greed"? No individual is going to earn enough to buy a new car based on rising gun proces... and yet they make it sound like buyers are preparing to gouge folks on their way to millions. What happened to this nation?

[meyer]

"No one knows exactly what is behind the gun-buying craze."

Could it possibly be that we now have a largely socialist government bent on disarming the public? Could it be that the department of Homeland Security just named conservatives as potential terrorists?

It's fairly obvious to those actually paying attention (that apparently doesn't include the mainstream media) that the left in our country is trying to drum up anger towards the right. They're slowly and methodically pushing the earners in this country to the breaking point. They're slowly and methodically tearing apart the constitution. They're slowly and methodically robbing those that earn so that they can live off the fruit of the earner's labor.

The reaction is that the right is arming up for the seemingly inevitable confrontation.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Bump for reference. Have 300 rds. of .380 JHP to move here in TX. Can’t believe how hard it is to find .380 anywhere.

[a real Sheila]

Like many gun enthusiasts, Mr. Chambers, a manager for a door wholesaler here, believes President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress soon will reimpose a version of an expired federal ban on the sale of so-called assault weapons. If such a law passes, he figures his collection — enough guns, ammo magazines and weapon parts to assemble about 30 AK-47s, AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles — could triple in value.

I hope he gave a fake name and city cause he is surely in the crosshairs, now labeled as a “right wing terrorist!”

[Conan the Conservative]

“Fear and Greed Have Sales of Guns and Ammo Shooting Up”

So the WSJ now thinks profit = greed? Some people in the article are buying guns because they expect to sell them when the price goes up. Thats called profit, like when you invest in stocks or bonds, or when you sell newspapers to make money. I would expect such a characterization from the NYT, not the WSJ.

[mosaicwolf]

Why are citizens “arming up”? Simple....”Support and defend the Constitution against all enemies,foreign and DOMESTIC.”

[mbynack]

I’m through spending my money on guns. Now I’m buying ammo.

[ScottinVA]

“No one knows exactly what is behind the gun-buying craze.”

C’mon, Alex/Betsy — you know damn well what’s behind it. It’s called “preparedness.”

[G Larry]

When the government is on a clear path to exert unwarranted control over the population, arming yourself is protection against such action and has nothing to do with “fear” or “greed”!

[gundog]

...enough guns, ammo magazines and weapon parts to assemble about 30 AK-47s, AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles -- could triple in value.

I believe that, unless this guy is a licensed manufacturer of firearms, he is debarred from assembling these guns for sale, therefore....HE AIN'T DOIN' IT FOR THE MONEY!!!!

[tomkat]

No one knows exactly what is behind the gun-buying craze

wanna bet ?

[mouser]

A guy could easily make a lot of money,” says Mr. Chambers, 47 years old, while at Autrey’s Armory, a gun store about 20 miles south of Atlanta.

I would almost think buying them in quantity with the intent to sell when price went up would require a FFL.

Anyone buying as investment should read up the laws so as not to get into trouble

[babyfreep]

ping to my ol’ man! ;-)

[RasterMaster]

Pres'ent DUH-bama did say it's a good time to BUY STOCKS...I doubt this was what he meant:

Plenty of good stocks right there!

[FreepShop1]

Any tips for someone who wants a gun and ammo for home defense, but is late to this whole game? Do gun show sales rip you off? How do you know if a gun from a gun show is in decent shape or a lemon?

[rhema]

[Billthedrill]

No one knows exactly what is behind the gun-buying craze.

I'm really disappointed to read this in the WSJ, where the staff supposedly has a slightly more informed view on economics than the average gaggle of idiot journalists.

It's classic run behavior. It happens with every commodity and has happened recently with gasoline and somewhat less so with toilet paper (the infamous Johnny Carson fake shortage). When the public perceives that the price or the availability (it's essentially the same thing) of a known commodity that is in demand is likely to change from an external circumstance, it responds by purchasing that product in greater quantities. Once this happens the supply goes down, not from whatever external circumstance (in this case more restrictive gun control laws) but as a consequence of the reduced supply that results from the run itself.

In short, it's a feedback loop. Once it's started the way to stop it is (1) to change the perception, and (2) to meet the demand with greater supply. The second of these is happening - ammunition manufacturers are running at full speed. The first of these is not happening.

The perception remains the same. What has maintained it is a clear lack of trust - fully merited - on the part of the public that the availability and price of firearms and ammunition is not going to be effected by external - i.e. political - circumstances. The media have attempted to dismiss this by breezily claiming that sufficient reassurances have been made and that if the purchasers don't trust the media and the administration on that score they're frightened, paranoid, hysterical, or now - this is actually a new one - greedy.

In fact, what the continuation of the run does demonstrate is that nobody trusts either the media or the politicians on the matter. Instead of sneering at gun purchasers as being uninformed or emotionally unstable, these ought to take a look in their own house and figure out why they aren't able to reassure the purchasers.

It isn't difficult. Carefully-worded statements that "nobody's talking about confiscating guns" (in fact, even this is patently untrue) carry the clear implication that measures short of outright confiscation are still on the table, which they are. Smooth reassurance that one's hunting rifle is safe (also patently untrue) imply that anything declared as a non-hunting firearm is not, which they are not. In short, nobody believes the lies anymore except occasionally the people who repeat them. That's not a good position for communications media to be in.

[a fool in paradise]

“Fear and Greed” had people in the streets protesting taxes and Socialism as well.