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The Great New Year Stampede: Americans Rushing to beat Obamacare and gun bans.
National Review ^ | 01/03/2013 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 01/03/2013 7:07:37 AM PST by SeekAndFind

There is a New Year stampede developing that we have not seen for a long time.

Gun stores are swamped with panicking customers. They are looking for handguns, semiautomatic rifles, and as much ammunition as they can afford. But buyers are not just camouflaged hunters, conspiracy theorists, and gun hoarders. Instead, many of those purchasing firearms and ammo are so-called ordinary people, convinced that this administration will soon begin to centrally register — and then ban — far more than assault rifles.

There were probably lots of reasons why Adam Lanza shot 26 innocent children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. But so far the government and media are not focusing much on his prior obsessions with violent video games, on society’s seeming inability to hospitalize the unstable, or on the crude violence peddled in Hollywood and through popular music that portrays shooting people as a sort of cheap fantasy without consequences.

Instead, the administration is zeroing in on the ability of Lanza’s mother to legally buy semiautomatic weapons that her son then stole to murder her and the schoolchildren and employees. The result is a pandemic of fear that the Second Amendment will be reinterpreted and redefined as never before.

With the resolution of the fiscal cliff, taxes on those who make more than $400,000 are going to rise considerably as they will revert to the Clinton-era rates. But this time the landscape is radically different.

There will not be much deficit reduction and certainly no balanced budgets, adding insult to injury for those who must pay the government far more.

The new, higher rates come on top of state-income-tax hikes in much of the country — all in addition to further increases in capital-gains taxes, new Obamacare taxes, and much steeper inheritance taxes. The result is not just a 3 percent to 5 percent increase on the well-off, but for some payers aggregate hikes of 7 percent to 8 percent or even more.

No wonder many companies are rushing to pay dividends now to beat rising capital-gains-tax rates. Likewise, many individuals are considering expensive new life-insurance policies to protect their heirs from losing small farms and businesses to steep new federal estate taxes. Red states will attract even more refugees fleeing high-tax and near-insolvent blue states.

Most Americans are already seeing their health-insurance premiums shoot up in anticipation of the 2014 federal takeover of health care. To pay for the vast Obamacare programs — whose details still remain a mystery for most — money will be raised in all sorts of bizarre ways, from reducing Medicare coverage to taxing new medical devices and some drug makers.

A sense of foreboding hangs over the currently insured. Almost everyone is unsure whether the new federal statutes will still cover currently covered procedures — or whether they will be rationed or curtailed altogether. Expect many people to schedule check-ups and major medical procedures in 2013 before Obamacare kicks in.

There is a common denominator that underlies all this multifaceted uncertainty. Fairly or not, there is a sense that those who played by the rules and did well have instead done something wrong, or at least are under suspicion — and it is now time for their government to seek atonement from them. Worse still is the dread that the government’s new policies and taxes will not solve problems but may make them worse and prompt even more government engineering.

For the law-abiding gun owner, the federal government may make it more difficult to buy legal arms — even though there is little evidence that gun restrictions per se have stopped shootings, and some evidence that states with lots of armed citizens have lower crime rates. If the semiautomatic-rifle ban does not work, what gun will be banned next to stop violence?

Most well-off taxpayers add up their local, state, federal, payroll, and capital-gains taxes and feel they really have paid their “fair share.” They all know that handing over more won’t solve the fiscal crisis, but instead will only empower more government deficit spending. If new taxes won’t stop deficits, what’s next?

Finally, those who budgeted and provided their own health insurance feel that the new restrictions and higher taxes on their coverage are the costs of subsidizing many who could have bought, but chose not to buy, their own health insurance.

The ability of citizens to protect their households, to keep at least half their earnings safe from various government taxes, and to use their own judgment in making health-care decisions is central to a free people. No wonder the fear that a radically growing government will infringe on such traditional freedoms is stampeding millions of panicky Americans in all directions.

— Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The End of Sparta.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; bhohealthcare; democrats; donttreadonme; guncontrol; guns; newyear; obamacare; sandyhook; secondamendment; stampede; tyranny; vdh
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To: SeekAndFind

Aurora Shooter’s Father Supposed to Testify in LIBOR ?
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/forum/4052/aurora-shooters-father-supposed-testify-libor (TF Metals Report)

BREAKING NEWS: CT School Shooter Killer Link To LIBOR SCANDAL
http://newsworldwide.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/breaking-news-ct-school-shooter-killer-link-to-libor-scandal/

Libor scandal grows as the fathers of two mass murderers were to testify
http://www.examiner.com/article/libor-scandal-grows-as-the-fathers-of-two-mass-murderers-were-to-testify

Gunman’s computers may be key in Connecticut school shooting investigation
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2969326/posts


21 posted on 01/03/2013 10:31:11 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: Eska

Most of the military will be sidelined, “kept in the barracks,” so to speak. The confiscaion will be attempted using the army of federal, state, and local SWATs, of which there are far more than most people imagine, and by TSA, Forest Service, DOE DEA, AFT, and SIEU etc. etc. Billions of bullets to the “civilian” agencies this past year, remember?


22 posted on 01/03/2013 10:35:02 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
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To: SeekAndFind

23 posted on 01/03/2013 10:41:05 AM PST by Perseverando (Gun control? It's really not about gun control is it? It's really about PEOPLE CONTROL!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Folks, write to your representatives and senators. Call them. Also contact your state representatives and senators, if gun control bills are coming to them. Join the NRA and state Second Amendment rights organizations, or at least send donations to them.

That said, it appears that most of the money and efforts against our Second Amendment are going into Colorado this time. Their national efforts won’t be likely to pass the US House.

In Colorado (recent recipient of large numbers of people moving from the west coast and the northeast), they are attempting to root their agenda and go from there. The Colorado legislature is now a Democrat majority, and the Governor is a Democrat. Some State Assembly Democrats there would vote against gun control measures, though, if they felt that voting in favor of them is too unwise (volumes of letters and calls they receive).

They should also know that more gun control laws will also adversely affect the State’s economy (tourism, hunting, etc.).

Calirado is much further to the left than most of you know (big city regulations in rural areas, big federal funding and much more). Residents of some states tend to cheerlead for their states regardless of true political conditions, because they depend on big government for their incomes. Although leaning far to the left on most issues, Caliradans in both socialist political parties like firearms, especially the tacticool kind. Such firearms are in style, and don’t you know the planet Niburu is heading our way. ;-) [Little humor there.]


24 posted on 01/03/2013 10:47:45 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: SeekAndFind

http://www.stagarms.com/information.php?info_id=6
“All rifle, upper half, lower half, and lower receiver orders.”

Sometime in the last few days, it said that the lead time was a year. Now, it says that they’re not taking orders on those items.

There were rumors a few days ago, that other manufacturers were also backed up for about a year.

The few Democrats leading efforts against our Second Amendment said months ago, that they were going to try to affect supplies (raise prices, lower availability). Looks like they’ve done it again.


25 posted on 01/03/2013 10:59:37 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: jim_trent

I got a Taurus Judge. The idea of a revolver handgun that shoots shotgun rounds appealed to me. After taking it to the range, I don’t regret the decision.


26 posted on 01/03/2013 11:00:23 AM PST by Daveinyork (."Trusting government with power and money is like trusting teenaged boys with whiskey and car keys,)
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To: Daveinyork

Happy New Year!


27 posted on 01/03/2013 12:34:40 PM PST by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

Have a happy one, yourself.


28 posted on 01/03/2013 12:40:08 PM PST by Daveinyork (."Trusting government with power and money is like trusting teenaged boys with whiskey and car keys,)
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To: arthurus
We have a fed park, (Yukon Charlie) downriver from our community. The feds have extended their control to state lands that feed the watershed of the river through their Park. I have always gotten along with most the park people, they don't want to start problems and have all the locals up in arms. We never had problems until Big "O", then they brought in a couple fed park police that started heavy handed tactics. They started doing safety checks on local's boats on the river; most locals here don't even register their boats with state registration, no joke. Then the fed park cops said they were going to begin enforcing state law in a community that doesn't even have any LEO's and nearest state police is over 200 miles away. It set people off. One day, the 2 park cops tried pulling over a 70 year old gold miner on the river, the guy ignored them and continued up thee river. Park Cops ran him aground, pulled out guns and beat the old man up, handcuffed him ect. They did same thing to another local a few days later. Locals went nuts. In the past Park people had to be escorted outta town by state police as they were in fear of their lives; all that junk 20 years earlier had died down until this bull crap. Ended up, the State gov went crazy, Donny Young went even crazier (and you want don young on your side) and the other D.C. Senators got involved. They got rid of the 2 cops and now the Park Service wants to be friends. I don't think the locals will get over this latest garbage for a few years. Ended up one of the fed cops was a convicted felon, Howed he get into the training program and other one was fired too.

I could only imagine what would now occur if the feds tried anything around these parts. Most the locals and Indians hunt with old military guns, M1's, SKS's, Ar's, and Aks. All the open river for the park service to patrol and all that forested woods along the bank; could become a problem; maybe they should agent orange the bank for 100 yards on both sides.

We live in a conservative state, with conservative government that already puts word out to state police not to enforce fed law that goes against the constitution. I do believe that if the feds tried such lunacy, it would end with the non compliance of the populace, rejection by the state government, and could mushroom into civil disorder the likes the left can't imagine; maybe that's what they want but the end result would hurt Big "O" more than would help him. They need the populace to abide by the law voluntarily or the country will fall into turmoil and their future plans will be short tracked. When the law is seen as unconstitutional by the populace, they won't support or abide by that law; it's always been that way. Gun control has always hurt the dems at the ballot box.

I'm too far along in my life to give up my constitutional rights to anybody and I know most everybody around here feel the same, they won't become slaves. I have a friend that is now dying of cancer, I'd rather go out for an important concept if need be and for that reason, I don't live in fear of all the fed agencies that you mentioned. Just my makeup I guess and there's millions more just like me all over America.

29 posted on 01/03/2013 2:06:54 PM PST by Eska
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To: jim_trent

My son and I were at the gun shop this last weekend. He wanted to spend his christmas money on a Ruger 10/22. After calling about 15 places this shop had stock. Many of the gun racks were empty but the place was busy. While we were there employees brought out 2 AR-15s and placed them on the wall racks. You could see dozen’s of heads turn. Both guns were off the racks within 30 seconds. They were doing background checks for both of them before we left.


30 posted on 01/03/2013 2:35:20 PM PST by toast
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To: familyop

I met a man today who just relocated from Durango, CO to northern Idaho. I asked him why he left a nice place like Durango. He told me he had a Romney sticker on his car and his tires got slashed.

It appears that Colorado is lost.


31 posted on 01/03/2013 10:02:34 PM PST by 43north (BHO: 50% black, 50% white, 100% RED)
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To: RC one

That’s not news. You might be able to find someone with a Saiga 308 who hasn’t sold out of them yet (because a lot of people don’t know the thing exists) and you might be able to find a just-built FAL professionally assembled on a US receiver from surplus parts.


32 posted on 01/03/2013 11:38:59 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: jim_trent

33 posted on 01/03/2013 11:40:47 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: B.O. Plenty
..or an oil rig blowing up right before an all-out assault on 'big oil' that was going to happen anyway, but now with a perfectly-timed excuse for 0bama to rally Americans' support to do it? Not a single person within the U.S. had to be involved in these ops.. 0bama loves a little help from his Korean, Russian, Chinese or Muzzie friends. We saw what happened at a school in Russia, hint hint. 'Flexibility' he said.. To ban guns maybe? Red Dawn a comin'?

These were not coincidences.

34 posted on 01/03/2013 11:54:22 PM PST by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America (IMPEACH OBAMA)
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To: arthurus
0bama's Civilian National Security Force armed with billions of newly acquired bullets comin' to collect yur guns!!

Good thing these agencies placed their HUGE orders for ammo right before an event which would cause HUGE PUBLIC DEMAND FOR AMMO!!

35 posted on 01/04/2013 12:18:48 AM PST by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America (IMPEACH OBAMA)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m SO glad I got started back in 2008. Still wish I could have done more. Dammed if I’m gonna pay $50 for a 30rnd AR magazine.

I’d investigate how to make the things myself before spending a small fortune on them. I may already have plenty though. Just sayin’....


36 posted on 01/04/2013 12:23:19 AM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Spktyr

That looks a lot better (both the gun and the shooter).


37 posted on 01/04/2013 5:13:14 AM PST by jim_trent
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To: arthurus
You left out DHS and TSA. Combined they have over 250,000. This is more than most militaries in the world. keep in mind that the millions of rounds of .40 cal ammo is for training purposes. Training with expensive hollow points, right!!!

TSA will be in charge of all transportation if SHTF. Think checkpoints and “Where's your papers/travel orders?” If you have been in an airport lately you will see the demographic of the TSA crowd.

38 posted on 01/04/2013 5:14:12 AM PST by USAF80
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To: SeekAndFind

We could very well see a second American civil war in our lifetimes.


39 posted on 01/04/2013 5:19:54 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: Daveinyork

“I admit it.... I bought one for the first time....”

Me too....2nd one is on order....Ammo is VERY scarce here.....All 5 dealers in this area had nothing but a couple boxes of buckshot!!....No .38 nothing......


40 posted on 01/04/2013 5:57:34 AM PST by 3722535r
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