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Oh, if only Charlton Heston were alive to see this. Tribune correspondent Howard Witt has gathered up a file folder of anecdotal evidence purporting that sales of assault rifles, handguns and ammunition nationwide are through the roof since Barack Obama was elected last week. Witt reports that one Houston gun shop ran out of assault weapons the day after the election and now have a month long waiting list, and that state officials in Colorado set a new record for gun purchaser background checks. Reasons stated range from fear of future gun bans, to fear of "civil unrest" because of the economy, to one sociology professor claiming it's a, "deep-seated fear of the armed black man." (We're sensing a theme here.)
We called our own favorite place to stock up the Chicagoist bunker, G.A.T Guns in the northwest suburbs, and after listening to "It's A Grand Old Flag" while on hold we talked to Greg Sr. about gun sales there: "Tremendous. And not just assault weapons, but all guns with high capacity magazines."
We also know of at least one small mountain town that saw a spike in shotgun sales...
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I suspect many of these people "stocking up" are buying guns they barely know how to fire. You don't get a firearm out of fear, that's just asking for trouble.
It would be fascinating to see how many of these weapons end up on the street. Or if there is a spike in domestic violence involving gun play over the coming months.
I hope Obama takes away all their stupid guns and confirms their very worst fears. The world needs fewer heavily-armed morons.
I wonder what the effect would be if guns and ammo were taxed as high as tobacco is.
A gun-toter told me that guns in everyone's hands would lower crime, because home invasions and burglaries will result in either death or severe pain, as well as robberies. Imagine some schmuck walking into a bank and ends up having 30 guns pointed at him.
Which I guess is good for me because I can go about not having a gun and let everyone think I do have one.
Obama can't take their guns away. These people live and breathe by the 2nd Amendment. They will start their own war.
The supreme irony being that it's Bush that they should have been worried about. Homeland security, blackwater forces on U.S. soil, erosion of the posse comitatus act, suspension of habeas corpus, Halliburton contracts for "temporary detention facilities" on U.S. soil, spying on U.S. citizens, illegal wiretaps....and so on.
But yeah these mouthbreathers should be worried about Obama.........
@ Von Erich:
The counter to that "we're all safer" argument is that every argument that would have ended up in a fist fight or maybe a stabbing now involved firearms.
Taking away guns doesn't make people less stupid, it just gives them a less volatile instrument to be stupid with.
I'd bet anything that this spike in gun sales has occurred in various parts of the United States where there is nothing to do whatsoever. It's always the bored and the stranded who think everyone else is out to get them, not realizing that those with an active life are too busy to even think about them.
Dumbos both on the left and the right still fail to grasp the end result of those three perennial hot-button issues; abortion, the death penalty, and the 2nd amendment. Guns, abortion clinics and the gas chamber are all here to stay.
Well, duh! I don't own guns, and generally favor tighter restrictions on gun ownership, but the reasons for the gun run are not difficult to figure out.
Why wouldn't gun enthusiasts be concerned that firearms purchases will be more tightly regulated next year, or that they will be taxed a much higher rate? The liberal Democrats control Congress and the presidency, and are just an appointment or two away from controling the Supreme Court. They have a very noisy, well organized base that will demand action on this issue.
And how do we propose to take away guns? There's a handgun ban in Chicago and just take a look at the number of gun incidents this year alone. I'll venture a guess that the majority of these aren't shotguns or hunting rifles. Don't get me wrong--if there were a way to do it, I'd be for it. But in the real world it just isn't going to happen.
You can't make the world stupidproof. Stupid people are far too ingenious for that.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. Again, I stress "in the real world". So we make another ridiculous law that criminalizes another chunk of the population. And then we what? Build more prisons to hold these people?
Oh and ban gun manufacturing? In the country that is the largest manufacturer in the world? Good luck.
I think I'll support a more realistic suggestion...we can teleport all the guns to the sun where they will be instantly incinerated.
"Tightly Regulated"
You mean they might not be able to by 10 a week or whatever? Srsly, I'm *Pro* right to bear arms but you have to laugh at these people. "If I don't get my 10th AK47 we'll turn communist!"
This also reminds of the story of the 8 year old boy who was allowed to fire an UZI at a gun show recently and blew his own head off.
"Be realistic, you can't expect a black guy with a name like 'Obama' to get elected. Hell, he'll be lucky to pull up close in the primaries."
Oh.
Yes, it's a hard road, but if it means getting guns out of people's hands, off the streets and out of homes, I'm all for it. The notion that we are safer when armed to the teeth is one people need to be dissuaded from.
The problem with gun bans is that sure guns are illegal, as they are now, and yet people still have them (in Chicago I am referring to). Stiffening penalties won't do anything either. And if some of these people have AK-47s, you know they aren't even getting them from the US.
It's like medical marijuana in California. It's legal by state, but not on Federal levels. You can't ban guns and have a 2nd Amendment and not expect problems. This has to start from the top down, and you know that will never happen. If there was ever a time the 2nd Amendment could have been reversed it was on 11/22/1963.
I'm just thinking of how stupid people like this are. I mean it would be interesting just to be able to observe them from a distance and hear them talk. It would be like looking at a stange bug or something. I mean to think like that in this day and time. "better go get me some extra guns. I aint got much money but this is important so I'm gonna go rat down der and get so more guns!"
And how do we propose to take away guns? There's a handgun ban in Chicago and just take a look at the number of gun incidents this year alone. I'll venture a guess that the majority of these aren't shotguns or hunting rifles. Don't get me wrong--if there were a way to do it, I'd be for it. But in the real world it just isn't going to happen.
That's right. I think the numbers prove that laws like handgun bans don't work. Now that's not to say that gun control doesn't or can't work to lower gun crime and accidents, but simply making things illegal doesn't prevent them from happening.
Sure, ban the manufacture and sale of guns outright. Make the criminal penalties for gun ownership and use a minimum 20 year federal (no time off) sentence and life for those found making straw buys or selling on the black market.
Jeez, have you ever even read the Bill of Rights? I'm a big supporter of common sense gun control -- the rights of free speech aren't absolute and neither are the rights of gun ownership -- but criminalization is unrealistic as a means to an end. So in your world, the only people with guns will be the cops and the military? Hell, I might go buy one if that's going to be the case.
Bottom line -- don't defend the first amendment if you're not willing to defend the second.
Longer waiting periods? YES
Limits on number of weapons purchased per year? YES
Elimination of straw purchases? YES
Tougher background checks? YES
Longer sentences for illegal ownership? YES
Longer sentences for illegal sales? YES
Ban handguns? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The genie is out of the bottle. Criminals will always be able to get guns, or at least enough criminals will get them even WITH a handgun ban....to the point that the rest of society deserves the right to self-protection.
Law-abiding citizens should have the option to purchase handguns legally. And no, I have never owned a gun nor do I intend to own one.
Yes. Which well-regulated militia are you part of?
The notion that the founding fathers would have approved of individual
Hey Ward! I agree with you for once! and I have owned a gun. I don't currently though.
-gun ownership ridiculous. The notion that some of the more fringe elements, like Mr. Garrison and company in the SP clip, put out there is simply survivalist paranoia.
And don't wag the first amendment like a threat. Can you, without looking, name any of the other amendments to the constitution? We have quite a few.
Sensible gun control means getting rid of the guns and ending their manufacture. Anything short of that is just playing games.
Seems to me the vast, vast majority of gun crimes committed in Chicago are done by people who prefer Obama over McCain, although McCain was making inroads among the LK and GD from what I hear.
Not a lot of the huntin, fishin, county music lovin, pickup drivin people who fit the GOP sterotype portrayed on Chicagoist to be found in the criminal element here.