Posted on 11/25/2011 9:33:13 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
At least someone is making money in these difficult times. Arms dealers in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley are making out like, well, bandits as unrest in Syria sends black market gun prices through the roof says this story in Lebanon’s Daily Star. Rocket grenade launchers appear to be the hottest investment grade item, with prices more than sextupling from $400 to $2500 in recent months. Kalashnikovs and M16s are also up sharply, with 75 percent appreciation on the Russian guns and 100 percent on the US model.
Perhaps more investments in Lebanese arms dealer funds could rescue US state and municipal pension funds; those are the kind of returns states like New York, Illinois, California and Rhode Island need to avoid massive service and benefit cuts in the years ahead.
But what this news really means, of course, is that more and more people in Syria and Lebanon are preparing for all out civil war. Religious and ethnic divides half forgotten during the long decades when the dictatorship was secure are now beginning to revive as the Assad clan looks weak.
This is the pattern I saw at work in Yugoslavia and the Caucasus twenty years ago as ethnic groups geared up to butcher their neighbors and drive them from their homes; I will never forget the night a Georgian poet asked me how much guns cost on the Istanbul black market; he was arming himself against what he called the “Abkhazian menace.”
I made a note to myself at that time: when poets buy guns, tourist season is over. They are buying them now in Damascus; something wicked this way comes.
Mass quantities!!
Is Obama trying to get the World Gun Salesman Of The Year award?
More like the decade. If he isn’t already a shoo-in, I don’t know who is.
In my opinion, guns are a superior investment. If cared for, quality guns do not depreciate. Like gold, they simply retain their “true value”. Plus, guns serve a useful purpose at the same time, unlike gold which just sits there. My portfolio definitely includes a quality gun collection.
In our “Argentinian” future, I predict that the .22 LR round will be the new dollar bill.
I don’t collect guns. I accumulate them.
I lost all my guns in an unfortunate canoeing accident.
It is a smart idea for people to learn how to pack their own shells, too.
If I've told my Guns once, I've told them a thousand times, never go canoeing without wearing a Life Jacket.
That’s a shame. I lost mine in a rafting accident. Deep, deep water, too.
I know, that was me sitting behind you in the boat. What were we doing in a canoe right over the Marianas Trench, anyhow?
Maybe we could start a therapy group for all those on FR who have lost their entire firearm collections in unfortunate boating accidents.
About One Million firearms, each and every month since August 2008, on average, at the civilian retail level, excluding private person-to-person sales.
American civilians have also purchased 1.2 to 1.5 Billion rounds of ammunition, on average, each and every month since August 2008.
As Jesse James would put it, “If you have the guns, you’ll usually get the gold.”
I've just been buying lots of fishing stuff -- bottom rigs and dragnets.
For therapy, perhaps you should all take up scuba diving.
Glad you are okay.
I guess we’ll have to settle for B B guns.
I'd also recommend purchasing one or two "spare" rifles. These would come in very handy if something should happen to your primary rifle, if you have a friend or family member who is in need of a firearm, or as a trade/barter item.
Surplus military rifles such as Mausers, Enfields, Mosin-Nagant's, '03 Springfields, and Garands are available at a number of gun shops nationwide. I'd recommend them for the fact that they are designed to be withstand rough treatment and still keep firing, plus surplus ammo can usually be found at fairly reasonable prices.
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