“...the surge in gun ownership per capita seemed to coincide with the start of the Obama presidency”
That is quite correct. Gun sellers started have their phones ring off the hook from buyers looking for firearms to purchase the night Obama was elected in November of 2008. And the demand for both arms and ammo just will not quit.
I had a deer rifle on consignment at a rather large local gun shop since December and it hadn’t sold so I went to pick it up. The owner apologized for nor being able to sell it. He said he’d sold thousands of handguns and msr’s but the guy I passed walking in the door was only the THIRD hunting rifle he had sold all year so far.
People that hunt already have a deer rifle. People that don’t hunt dont need one.
But he’s selling lots of firearms none the less.