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Amid economic downturn, gun sales flourish; renewed vigor for gun rights evident
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Name one industry that has not gone to Capitol Hill begging for a handout from Nancy Pelosi and the Obama Administration.
If you guessed the American firearms industry, there is ample evidence to back that up, as newspaper after newspaper has reported gun sales flourishing in virtually every region of the country. Most recently, the Tulsa World notes that firearms and ammunition are going out the front door as soon as they come in the rear receiving door. There appears no end in sight.
"We've sold more ammunition in the last three months than we sold last year."
This is not a sudden phenomenon. It began even before the November election that sent Barack Obama to the White House, where he has been assembling an anti-gun “dream team” that now includes liberal Democrat King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske.
Last Nov. 7, UPI reported that gun sales in Denver, Colo. Had been strong “amid fears President-elect Barack Obama will curtail firearm laws…”
Having reported this situation in the pages of Gun Week over the past few months, and observing sales activities at local gun shops, a few things have become very evident. For example, staffers at Wade’s Eastside Guns in Bellevue noted the number of first-time gun buyers visiting their busy shop with its adjacent indoor gun range. I was present when some of these first-time sales were occurring, and high on the shopping list were rifles of the AR-15 variety, along with every round of ammunition people could buy.
More than once, gun shop sales clerks around the country have expressed astonishment at the hypocrisy of many buyers who admit having voted for Obama. Apparently, they woke up last Nov. 5 and realized that they had just elected a man to office who has a voting record decidedly against gun ownership.
When White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel – Bill Clinton’s point-man on gun control schemes during his administration – told reporters that Obama would like to renew the ban on semiautomatic rifles, it only inflamed the panic.
A recent visit to The Marksman gun shop and indoor range south of Puyallup further confirmed the buying frenzy. Staffers there acknowledged that they have been selling lots of new and used handguns. Internet chat groups complain of no ammunition available in several popular calibers. My colleague, David Codrea, shared this conversation he had recently with Tommy Milner, CEO at Remington Arms.
Gun sales are hot in New Mexico, as well. Carry permit applications are skyrocketing in North Carolina.
Amid all of this buying, a renewed vigor for the right to keep and bear arms is showing up. One man – gun rights activist and author Skip Coryell of Michigan – has announced plans for a huge gun owner march on Washington, D.C. in 2010 to remind Congress that Americans value their liberty, and a cornerstone of that liberty is the Second Amendment. The message they plan to send to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues is simple: Hands Off.
Gun rights organizations including the NRA, and the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, all report increasing support from members, and fresh recruitment. Expect the NRA’s annual members’ meeting in Phoenix in May to be a standing-room-only affair.
Voters wanted change and they wanted hope, but it appears that Mr. Obama was right about times of uncertainty. Americans cling to their guns.
Insert photo caption or credit here
For more info: National Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Second Amendment March
Meanwhile, check what my colleague Howard Nemerov thinks about the problem with border security in Texas
And meet Ed Stone, the Atlanta Gun Rights Examiner
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