From the Advocate:
Baton Rouge gun stores are seeing the same spike in weapons sales as their national counterparts.
They attribute the increase to president-elect Obama’s position on gun control issues and the questions opponents raised about his motives and his fitness to be president.
Jim McClain, of Jim’s Firearms, on Siegen Lane, said business is up 30 percent from people buying the semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity clips subject to the federal assault weapons ban, which was in effect from 1994 to 2004.
McClain said Obama is on record supporting reinstating the ban, and that a number of semiautomatic weapons popular with law-abiding gun enthusiasts were included in the ban, particularly the AR-15.
“People have a legitimate concern for the next four years of losing our Second Amendment rights for certain types of firearms,” McClain said.
Thank you, John McCain. I thank God every day that you were not elected to the presidency. Although you were not elected, you will leave behind an ugly legacy. I hope that you're pleased with yourself. Honestly, I don't know how you sleep nights.
Obama, along with a large number of police officials and of ordinary citizens, want the ban on semiautomatic weapons reinstated. Who needs to own a semiautomatic weapon? The US is awash in guns. May we redraw the line at semiautomatic weapons?
Even if the ban is reinstated, those who have the weapons, will very likely be permitted to keep them.
Guns. KKK.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this isn't the right time to point out that there will be pro-gay rights rallies in Louisiana on Saturday, as well as other states.
Join the impact! It's not just for gays, but for straight allies!
IT
IT, it is the right time. Thank you for the information.
ReplyDeleteHere's a bit of irony for you. . . John McCain also said he'd support renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB). This is one reason it was hard to rally gun owners against Obama. They knew that no matter who got in, they could expect a fight over this issue.
ReplyDeleteSemi-automatic rifles have been available to the general public for about 100 years now. Millions have been sold, and millions of people have them and a lot of people don't intend to give them up. Getting rid of them at this late date isn't practical, it's not going to happen.
The AWB law in it's previous form might come back, however. That prospect is what's driving the current gun (and magazine, and folding stock, and ammunition) buying mania. A lot of people clearly remember life under the AWB and want to be better prepared to weather a new one.
One thing that always makes me nervous when I visit the US is your gun laws. Not helped by being in Washington during the Virginia Tech massacre. Although I hated our previous prime minister, I am glad he banned all semi automatic weapons after the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania. We also have strict rules about guns being locked up when not in use. I had a brief fling with a policeman but would not allow him to bring his gun into my house. I see no purpose for the average person to own a gun.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I've already got plenty of big guns.
ReplyDeleteFeck off, Timothy. Don't come back. You're gone.
ReplyDeleteMimi -- horrid story in Albuquerque paper about rush to buy guns. One guy said that because of the Obama election it was "time for the Rapture".
ReplyDeleteWorks for me -- I'd be pleased to have them gone but I'd guess some would be quite surprised to find out where they ended up.
(Bad theology that but not as bad as the Rapture nonsense)
Tony, I know. Living under the AWB would be hard, really hard. And I know that the country is already well armed. If the ban is little more than symbolic, I want the damned things banned.
ReplyDeleteBrian, it makes me nervous living here.
Lindy, I'm sorry. Your comment doesn't make any sense now, but I wasn't having that sicko's comment at my place. Don't worry. I saved it before I deleted it.
Susan, may those who want the rapture have it. I'll take their stuff, except their guns.
The NRA and other gun lobby groups engaged in a relentless campaign to whip up fear of "gun grabber" liberals taking office. I was getting about 10 pieces of mail per month, and emails nearly every day, from the NRA since September, each one more shrill and foreboding than the one before it.
ReplyDeleteThere is quite a nexus between gun ownership and hoarding behavior--the dynamic seems to be kind of like tattoos: once you get one or two, you're just as likely to get 5 or 10. I don't know why this is, but I know very few gun owners who only own one gun. Once you have a couple, the collection just seems to grow almost on its own.
Of course, if our criminal justice system simply did its job properly, and existing gun crime laws were adequately enforced, and gun offenders locked up, we wouldn't have to worry as much.
Bubs, I live in a family of hunters. We have guns around. If it were it just me, I wouldn't have them. Folks are panicking and acting crazy and, as you say, hoarding.
ReplyDeleteI finally got the NRA to stop sending us mail, when I began to send their postage-provided envelopes back to them asking them to stop sending us mail. They finally got the message and stopped.
Bubs, I have only one tattoo, and I have no plans to get even one more.
Mimi, you are truly exceptional then! I have to say, I've held the line at 2 tattoos, but I'm up to six guns and I'm not sure exactly how.
ReplyDeleteThe hoarding thing is fascinating to me--I'm watching it happen right now with a group of coworkers who found a gun shop that has a good price on Romanian AK-47's. About a half dozen of them have bought them. The panic buying seems to apply mostly to rifles with high capacity magazines, not to handguns. I guess that's something at least--an extra 100,000 rifles in circulation will be harder to conceal than 100,000 handguns. I always try to look at the bright side!
Tax bullets.
ReplyDeleteThere is no Second Amendment right to ammunition.
Rmj, that's brilliant, and it's fine by me.
ReplyDeleteMimi. . . I gather you don't like guns, and you may possibly even fear them. Okay. . . You are entitled to your attitudes and opinions. Nobody's forcing you to buy a gun or have one in your home.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand is the desire to dictate those views to the other 300,000,000 people who live in this country, many of whom feel quite the opposite.
If there were some practical benefit to the public, then it might be different. If we had some kind of AR and AK crime wave, I could see an argument. There isn't any AR and AK crime wave. The previous AWB law was a purely symbolic poke in the eye to America's gun owners, and it accomplished nothing but angering large numbers of them.
I'm a libertarian by my natural inclinations, and I feel many of the country's "culture wars" stem from people who aren't satisfied with living by what they believe, but rather feel compelled to force those beliefs onto everybody else.
It's the same way with the abortion debate. For those who feel abortion is wrong, my advice has always been: Don't have one. But that's not enough for them; they want to force everyone else to live according to their feelings. It's a mystery to me.
Can't we all just get along?
Tony, I don't like guns. I think we have too damned many guns in this country, too many people killing other people with guns in this country. I don't want guns banned. I want everyone who has a gun to have a license which would include safety training and passing a written test on gun safety. I want semiautomatic weapons banned.
ReplyDeleteNone of those requirements would harm hunters nor target shooters.
Be a libertarian. Advocate for your cause. You're free to do that. You can't live in a society with no rules.
I have a right to expect to be safe from being shot and from a fear of being shot. You will never convince me otherwise about the guns. We'll agree to disagree, OK?
All of the hunters in my family could accept living by the rules I've mentioned, in case you'd like to know.
Now let's be sensible. Doesn't it stand to reason that folks who are so determined to defend the 2nd Amendment will also go to the wall in defense of the entire Constitution, including all 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights as well as all amendments that followed? I have no doubt that the NRA will team up with the ACLU at any moment. What other outcome could there be?
ReplyDeleteCP
I have no doubt that the NRA will team up with the ACLU at any moment.
ReplyDeleteCP, I couldn't have said it better.
DO you know how many drive by shootings there have been in LA this year?
ReplyDeleteIT
And in New Orleans! A bloody body or two on the street is all too common, even in the daylight hours.
ReplyDeleteDrive by's are dreadful -- but most of our gun deaths in NM are "family and friends" -- booze, arguments and the availability of guns.
ReplyDeleteMy husband hunts and has since a young pup in Kansas. (He hunts birds and dresses and cooks and eats them.) You don't HUNT with handguns or semi-automatics.
Hunting has squat to do with gun CONTROL.
It's always disappointing being restricted to posting when others are - usually - done with their day. I missed what Timothy said, but I don't think I've ever seen you spark like that, Mimi!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most frightening things I've heard was from a girl at my vet's office who - as baffled and horrified as I was by it - said a family member of hers said that, following Obama's election, he was cleaning his guns and getting them ready . . . "Just in case!"
Mark, I've had two trolls today, and I was not in the mood. If they had been in my house, I would have asked them to leave. That's a rule I learned from Fr Jake/Terry.
ReplyDeleteYou should hear what I hear where I live!
Okay, so in LA, it's innocent children who get it; these goons can't shoot and generally hit other people's kids. Today they arrested a driveby shooter with his toddler in the car.
ReplyDeleteGuns are a problem in LA, gang capitol of the nation.
So, for those who are all-guns-all-the-time, please tell j. random Angelenos what to do because their kids are being shot on the streets. 'k?
IT
You should hear what I hear where I live!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure. And I'm sure I'd hear much more here, if I got out amongst people like a human is supposed to!
I'm sorry about the trolls. I know how frustrating they can be, especially as they also tend to the cowardly. There's just something naturally abhorrent about blog trolls, like you just turned over a rotten log.
Look, I have no problem with reasonable people having guns for target shooting or hunting.
ReplyDeleteBut if we license people to drive a car, why is it so threatening to license people to have a weapon the only purpose of which is to kill?
IT
Mimi thinks we have too many guns in this country, and I can see her point.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, too many of the "made to kill people" type of weapons in the hands of religious nutjobs, the black helicopter / Ruby Ridge crowd, and of course, just plain criminals.
Having grown up in Texas in a family which enjoys hunting, fishing, and the outdoors, I have no problem with law-abiding citizens owning hunting rifles and shotguns for such purposes (tho' I don't hunt myself). It's the crazies & the criminals which worry me :P
David, I have no problem with what you say. As I said, I live in a family of men who hunt responsibly, which means a good many guns around.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny that David mentions "the black helicopter / Ruby Ridge crowd". I remember the Clinton administration quite well. It should be easy to see that Ruby Ridge, Mount Carmel (Waco), the whole militia movement and ultimately the Oklahoma City bombing as well can be traced back to Clinton's anti-gun stance. The lack of such activity since Clinton left office just underscores how bad it was.
ReplyDeleteDo we really want to go there again?
Tony, many times during the Bush maladministration, I would have gone back to the Clinton administration in a heartbeat, if I could have made it happen. Does that answer your question?
ReplyDeleteFYI, I remember the Clinton administration very well, too. My memory is still intact, though I may be old.
Ummm...so trying to enforce the laws we already had on the books somehow forced those "Ruby Ridge type" nutjobs to go on a shooting spree ? Like they had no moral judgement ? no personal responsibility ? "I can't help it! Clinton made me do it!"
ReplyDeleteThat's just a big, heapin' pile of bullsh*t.
That's just a big, heapin' pile of bullsh*t.
ReplyDeleteThank you, David.
But we must never, ever forget that everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING was Clinton's fault.
Except that some things are already blamed on Obama, even before he's inaugurated. That he chose to run for president, caused the economy to crash.
I'd suggest that the best take on guns and gun control I've read in a long time comes from a chapter in Joe Bageant's Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War. Bageant is a progressive full of common sense...
ReplyDeleteIf you're a progressive and a Southerner, I can almost guarantee you'll resonant with this book (and if you're one o' them Liberal-elite Yankees, you'll gain a much deeper & thoughtful understanding of "fly-over country" ;)
David, thanks for the book suggestion. Grandpère would probably like it, too.
ReplyDelete