Posted on 11/06/2008 7:51:54 AM PST by rosenfan
GRAND JUNCTION — John Faulkner and his wife, Brenda, thought Wednesday was a good day to buy a handgun.
"I'm 37 years old, and this is the first time in my life that I am really scared for our future," said Faulkner, an oil field worker, as he perused the collection of weaponry in A Pawn Shop here.
At Aurora's Firing Line gun shop, Steve Wickham was also purchasing. "Anything I can get my hands on," he said as he cradled a $699 9mm handgun.
Same thing in Lakewood: "I was selling guns before I even opened the door," said George Horne, owner of The Gun Room. "It's gone completely mad. Everyone is buying everything I've got on the shelves. Sales have been crazy."
By midday Wednesday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's "Insta- Check" background check — required for the sale of a firearm and typically about 8 minutes long — was jammed with waits lasting more than two hours.
Gun-shop owners and buyers said the urgency was fueled by Barack Obama's presidential win and Democrats' increasing their majority in Congress.
"I'm here because of Obama," Wickham said. "I think he's misinterpreted the Second Amendment. It's not about the right to hunt. It's about the right to defend yourself."
The Grand Junction pawnshop is decorated with bumper stickers: "Obama 08" with hammers and sickles on each end, "Obama for President of Afghanistan" and "Don't Be a Victim. Buy a Gun."
Potential threats outlined
Buyers, who were mostly going for assault rifles and handguns, were sighting them on the bumper stickers.
Behind the cash register, a list issued by the National Rifle Association outlines the potential threats a President Obama would have on Second Amendment gun rights: prohibitive excise taxes on guns and ammunition, bans on sales and transfers of all semiautomatic weapons, bans on right-to-carry permits and more.
One customer left with two new assault rifles and said he had already bought 30 weapons since Obama began his campaign for president.
"And look at this," he said, unwrapping a black rifle from a plastic cover. "I'm not talking BB guns."
Across Colorado, gun shops reported brisk business Wednesday as hunters and gun enthusiasts began to stockpile in anticipation of a Democratic president and Congress whittling away Second Amendment gun rights. The FBI is reporting that gun sales have increased 10 percent over purchases at this point last year.
Jerry Stehman told an endless wave of customers at his Jerry's Outdoor Sports store in Grand Junction to come back in two hours to pick up their firearm purchases. For the past 10 days, Stehman said, customers have been gathering cases of ammunition and multiple guns.
"We don't know where this character is coming from or what he's gonna do to us," Stehman said of Obama. "But I can tell you it's been good for business."
The crush of business shows no signs of subsiding.
"It will be extremely busy until Obama decides to do anything," said Richard Taylor, manager of Firing Line, which bills itself as Colorado's largest gun shop and has seen its stock of assault rifles dwindle from several dozen to a mere few in recent weeks. "And that's the real problem, the uncertainty of what he is going to do."
Obama, who reportedly has never fired a gun, has followed Democratic Party lines in his Senate and Illinois statehouse votes regarding gun control. He supported the controversial handgun ban in Washington, D.C., which the Supreme Court shot down earlier this year.
He has voted in favor of several gun-control measures and increasing taxes on ammunition and firearms.
"A deep-rooted hatred"
The 4 million-member NRA dedicated $15 million of its $40 million campaign this year to painting Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment. In a mass fundraising letter sent to members this summer, NRA president Wayne LaPierre wrote, "Never in NRA's history have we faced a presidential candidate — and hundreds of candidates running for other offices — with such a deep-rooted hatred of firearm freedoms."
Obama's campaign, in a statement labeled "Supporting the rights and traditions of sportsmen," said he "will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns."
Gun owners worry that a Democratic administration and Congress would support a return to President Clinton's gun ban, which lasted 10 years before sunsetting in 2004. That ban prohibited magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds and certain semiautomatic assault rifles with cosmetic features such as lugs for attaching a bayonet.
"Not only are they likely to revisit the Clinton ban, they will possibly make it more restrictive by banning more types of firearms altogether," said Tony Fabian, a Castle Rock attorney and president of the Colorado State Shooting Association, which is the state's division of the NRA.
Several gun-shop owners contacted by The Denver Post on Wednesday said sales had been exceptionally brisk in the past two months.
"The avid gun owners are picking up items that were part of earlier bans or things the Democrats typically talk about when they talk about gun control. Anything semiautomatic. Magazines for more than 30 (rounds). Assault-type guns," said Tim Brough, owner of Rocky Mountain Shooters Supply in Fort Collins. "I think it's a legitimate concern. Democrats typically want to pass more gun legislation, and now you've got a House, Senate and Democratic president, so it seems likely we will see more gun regulation."
Ok, so I lived there watched CALIFRONIANS come into two small towns, buy up all the cheap real estate (according to them) Ran our taxes up, changed our local politics,Brought in their liberal enviormentalism, same sex marriage, and all their other liberal B.S.! What should I believe you or what I experienced?!
Now we have a Democratic majority in both houses, a Democratic governor, 2 Democratic senators, and 2/5 split of Rep/Dem representatives. The exact opposite.
“why would you apply for a CCL..? “
It is called “insurance”. Insurance against the day that you use that weapon or do get stopped and searched or have some idiot liberal whacko call the cops because she saw your gun.
I once changed my mind about turning left. A cop thought he saw me swerve and pulled me over for a DUI check. Of course, he searched me. When he asked, “Do you have any
weapons?” I got a good chuckle by responding, “Which kind?”
The fact is, a CCW can prevent an unlawful weapons charge which can be a minor offense or a serious felony, depending on the State and where the stop happens. Why take the chance?
I think if I were a firearms manufacturer I would stop all shipments to any distributers or dealers in any state that voted blue.
I think if you were a firearms manufacturer you'd be out of business, since you'd be voluntarily removing yourself from over half of your potential market.
BLOAT!
But I live in a very rural area...and like I've said...I've never been searched.
And I'm not going to place a neon sign on my name..for the Feds to come look.
I suppose....one could just go thru the CCL classes and get one..and then tell them that you disposed of all your guns when Obama or the next POTUS comes for them.
I know they are coming.....sooner or later. History is a good teacher..if we abide by it.
I probably will take my chances...
But I thank you for your post........
MOLON LABE
THEM: Obama's "citizen army" that is better equipped and funded that the U.S. Military. Obama will empty out the gettos, put brown shirts on them, give them all an M-16, and send them door to door across the country to confiscate our weapons. 
< / Tinfoil hat >
Hey, could happen.
Nice format job there, ace.
As opposed to target or hunting rifles.
For the most part.....
But I am convinced....and past history ( recent and not so recent..) will back me up.
Our leaders...whether it's Obama or the next POTUS, or the next...are going to come after our guns.
It's a given.
I think the times are changing. It’s time for more civil disobedience, often. And if it has to turn uncivil, so be it.
The more guns out there the better for us and the harder for the demo craps
Believe what we all have experienced
Here's a case to watch.
We had a friend here on election day, and he just happened to have a .22 semi-auto handgun and 12 gauge shotgun. We had a great time shooting at targets, as it was my wife’s first time shooting. He sold us the shotgun, and the next thing is to go shopping.
hh
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