Posted on 11/13/2008 12:20:22 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The votes were barely counted and Barack Obama’s supporters were still dancing in the streets, buoyed by hope for a better tomorrow, when the news reports began to hit the wires. Obama’s victory brought a huge sigh of relief to those weary of the direction in which the country has been led for the last eight years. But on the other side of that coin, intense anger, fear and paranoia has sparked a flood of people nationwide to buy assault weapons and large amounts of ammunition.
Reports on the numbers of people buying guns and ammo over the last year has filtered out in blogs and tiny newspaper articles for some time. But as the election grew near, and especially after the outcome became known, a tidal wave of frantic buying has captured mainstream, front-page news from coast to coast and border to border, including a prominent Sunday spread in Missoula’s daily.
The most interesting thing is that the weapons and ammo most in demand are not the kind of rifles and bullets normally used for hunting, but the so-called “black guns” that are primarily for military and personal protection. These include, but are not limited to, the AK-47, undoubtedly the most widely used assault rifle in the world, and U.S. military counterparts such as the M-16 and AR15.
These guns all have one thing in common besides their military roots—they were outlawed for sale under the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The law banned all assault rifle semi-automatics with folding stocks, high-capacity clips, threaded barrels, pistol grips and grenade launcher attachments as well as certain types of pistols and shotguns.
The Assault Weapons Ban expired exactly 10 years later, on September 13, 2004, and neither President Bush nor Congress has attempted to re-instate it. More than a few political observers claim the ban was in large part responsible for the Democrats losing control of Congress for the ensuing decade.
But now, there’s fear sweeping the nation that the new and larger Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate will pass a new weapons ban and that President-elect Obama will sign it into law. If you don’t believe it, just go to a local sporting goods store that carries assault-style rifles and take a look around. Last week, following the election, the lines were three deep in front of every salesperson in my neighborhood gun shops. And late last week a front-page article in the Helena Independent Record interviewed the owner of a local sporting goods and gun shop who said he had just ordered 120,000 rounds of ammo, half of which was already pre-sold.
Or stop into the next gun show in your area. The gun show in Helena last weekend, for instance, set new attendance records and sold out of AK-47 ammo well before it ran out of customers. When I talked with one vendor about what was going on, he told me that the New York Times had called his Missoula shop last week and the reporter tried to get him to admit that it was just the National Rifle Association (NRA) spreading fear and driving the citizenry into purchasing assault rifles while they still could. Besides the gun ban, he added that there was great concern that Congress and Obama would approve a ban on any ammunition that could penetrate law enforcement body armor, which he said would include virtually all high-powered rifles. When I asked how the federal government would deal with those who reloaded their own bullets, he said that those kinds of questions remained unanswered at this time. The result is that the fear and apprehension continue to rise as the intentions of the new Congress and president remain uncertain.
While it would be one thing to say that right-wingers are up in arms (so to speak) over a potential future weapons ban, it would be incorrect to limit concerns only to them. There is considerable evidence that many from the progressive side of the political aisle are equally concerned—but for a different reason.
In their case, they fear that President Obama is literally walking around with a target on his chest. Given the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.—as well as the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan—those fears are not unfounded. Pundits may proclaim that Obama’s victory has shown the nation is leaving racism behind, but it would be naïve to think that an almost evenly divided populace would somehow be purged of violent racists through the mere outcome of an election.
The supposition is that if President Obama is assassinated, the nation would be thrown into a violent and uncontrollable cataclysm that would pit citizens against each other in a way we haven’t seen since the race riots of the ’60s ravaged Watts, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., leaving hundreds of dead and injured in their wake and millions of dollars in damages. Given the extreme polarization of the populace during the Bush administration, such fears are certainly within the realm of possibility.
Finally, the vast uncertainty over the nation’s economic future must be factored into the equation. It’s well known that, in times of economic downturn, people buy guns and ammo. We here in Montana like to believe it’s for hunting, so we can put meat in our freezers. But you don’t buy AK-47s for hunting in our mega-cities, where big game is non-existent. The only things to shoot there are fellow human beings—in this case, those who would theoretically threaten to harm or loot individuals or families.
No one knows what the future holds, but we do know what’s happening right now. All we can do is hope for cool heads—and cooler trigger fingers—in the coming months, and for the health and safety of our president-elect.
You forgot the barf alert.
In the meantime, the rest of America is stocking up.
In other words, "More Mush From the Wimp"
Oh yeah, everyone's buying ASSAULT weapons.. They are illegal dumb @ss. What a downright blatant LIE, but what else do you expect from MSM.
The only one sparking fear and paranoia is the media, and it's intentional, all part of the plan to set up Obama to act on these fears generated by media.
They are all "on the books..."
I heard Glen Beck say that articles like this one are nothing more than the MSM trying to make all conservatives look like pistol-packin’ militia men. On the contrary, I tend to believe that We The People are “stocking up” because we don’t believe Hussein’s statements that he’s not out to overturn the 2nd Amendment, especially when he’s telling NPR that he’s going to overturn state level concealed carry laws by passing a Federal ban. That’s not just the camel’s nose under the tent, it’s the head and half the hump (or one whole hump on the Bactrian variety).
I can hardly wait for media to report children are buying “Assault” water guns.
In their case, they fear that President Obama is literally walking around with a target on his chest.
Well all the Presidential assassins and attempted assassins, that weren't attention seeking or barking mad, seem to have been progessives. Czolgosz (anarchist), Oswald (Marxist), Zangara (anticapitalist). In addition Booth was an actor and Guiteau a lawyer, so they were most likely Democrats.
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What possible crime am I committing for pointing out the BS of the article?
I guess all the Nathan Zachary's out there better keep a look over their shoulders for the MIB tailing them.
And of course the backhoes. The Obama BIB's will be tailing all the backhoes digging basements.
My weapon of choice is my trusty shot gun. Why would I want an “Assault” rifle to combat an intruder who is most likely going to try invade my home in the middle of the night while I’m sleeping.
Nobody has time to aim, much less stick scope to eye and seek out the target. Not that you’d be able to see anything anyways.
The shotgun is the best close proximity weapon, point and shoot, and be comfortable knowing that anything in it’s path with have a big hole in it.
As for the “paranoia” this author bandies about as if it actually exists, people ARE worried, not afraid, and certainly not “paranoid”. Hubby and I, wishing to be prepared, have added shotguns, a couple of rifles and lots of ammo.
The subject of this article is perfectly appropriate, however, the treatment reminds me more of something I would read in the NY Slimes, NOT a local Missoula, Montana paper. Those folks must have changed A LOT since I last visited there.
Actually, Guiteau was a Republican. His fixation on Garfield started when he felt he deserved to be assigned as consul in Vienna because he had given a few stump speeches promoting Garfield.
Guiteau was from my hometown, and he was quite mad by the time he shot the President. I can freepmail you an article I did on him if you’d like.
Booth was a Democrat...almost all Confederate sympathizers at the time were copperhead Democrats.
Every president walks with a target on his chest! Andrew Jackson escaped assassination when his attacker's pistols misfired.
52% of the voters have decided to elect a menace to our God given Constitutional rights, and we are being portrayed as the delusional naive masses.
God help us, and God help our Nation.
What they are buying is simply rifles, shotguns, handguns. But if it is black, and has a hand grip on it, It's an "Assault rifle" in those moron's eyes.
I know it won’t, but you would think the morons in washinton would be able to fire enough synapses to understand if people are rushing to buy guns in the face of the marxist messiah’s coronation, maybe outlawing guns would NOT be a healthy thing to attempt.
Here’s hoping all of those new gun owners are willing to actually use them when the time comes instead of being meek little sheep in the face of tyranny.
It’s going to be a long dark night before we see the dawn again...
I'm thinking that people who buy AR-15s and such are wanting to kill the perpetrators before they get to into the house. I suppose that in the forthcoming food riots, defenders will need to hit moving targets before those targets let loose with molotov cocktails, bricks and such.
Sheesh! They are trying to make it sound as if everyone who is buying guns & ammo right now have plans to assassinate BO. Talk about painting with a broad brush.
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