Saturday sets state record for gun background checks in Virginia

NEWPORT — Cars and trucks filled the parking lot of Atlas Tactical on Tuesday, a small Giles County gun shop on the side of U.S. 460 not far from Virginia Tech.

Customers filled out forms for instant background checks and brought in used guns to trade for new ones, particularly the popular AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Shop owner Brooke Stallings said she sold three of the military-style rifles on Tuesday alone. And she said sales of all firearms in the shop were up over the weekend following the tragic shootings in Newtown, Conn.

Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, 52, in the family home Friday. Police have said Adam Lanza then broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire in classrooms with a Bushmaster .223 rifle, fatally shooting 20 children and six adults before killing himself.

Many customers coming into Stallings' shop since Friday talked about the Sandy Hook shootings, she said, and about the possibility that Congress will now tighten gun regulations, including the possibility of a new ban on AR-15 rifles such as the Bushmaster.

That fear, added to regular Christmas firearms sales, helped set a record in Virginia over the weekend.

The day after the Sandy Hook tragedy, the Virginia State Police Firearms Transaction Center processed 4,166 instant background checks done through licensed gun dealers.

It was the "highest volume of transactions received in one day since implementation of the FTC program in 1989," state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller wrote in an email.

The actual number of gun sales could be higher. A customer who passes a background check may purchase multiple firearms, Geller wrote.

Furthermore, background checks are not required in Virginia for private firearms sales.

A few days after the tragic Sandy Hook school murders, a young Marine in fatigues stationed himself at the front entrance of the Nashville elementary school his two children attend. Another parent heard him admit to a reporter that he was unarmed. The other parent commented that, even though the young Marine standing guard was not armed, it made him “feel better” to know he was there.

It’s often been observed that “perception is more important than reality”. The observation is often correct. It is never MORE CORRECT than for those we’ve come to call “liberals”. I prefer “statist” but “liberal” has morphed from its classic meaning to the other end of the spectrum so I’ll stay with it.

Since these folks operate almost entirely on EMOTION and FEELING, REALITY seldom allows FACTS to intrude upon the delusional worldview they have constructed and the comfort that provides them. It is that illogical, irrational and delusional mindset that prompts many of them to continue to quest after a Utopian society. The thought that such a society can and will never be achieved in a fallen world populated with failed sinners never penetrates whatever remains of their cognitive consciousness. It’s a DANGEROUS WORLD and, as the liberals continue to “define deviancy down”, it becomes more dangerous daily.

There is another, far more sinister, level of the “liberal” call for gun control.

It was Mencken who offered that “The urge to save humanity is most often a false front for the URGE TO RULE.” He clearly had been a student of the liberal politicians of his day. Were he alive today and able to observe the likes of Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein, Obama and the rest, he’d almost certainly have used far stronger language to frame his sage observation.

To conclude, dozens of studies reveal the FACTS concerning gun control. Those FACTS are that where firearms are widely and READILY available to law-abiding citizens, CRIME GOES DOWN! The liberals who willfully ignore the FACTUAL EVIDENCE and continue to call for gun control (i.e. the DISARMING of DECENT CITIZENS, thereby denying them the ability to exercise their God-given right to self-defense) are those about whom Mencken wrote: Their goal is NOT about preserving life. It is about the hell-bent pursuit of the impossible to achieve Utopian world where all are equal but some (that’d be THEM) are MORE equal than others (that’d be US).

There are many PRO-RTKABA videos on You Tube that your often busy lives don’t allow you to find on your own. Search there for “Gun Control”, watch them – and, more importantly – SHARE THEM with the folks in your orbit.

We’re in a fight. And losing will ultimately cost us much more than our right to our guns.

apillar said: "If I remember correctly the last assault weapons ban allowed the sale of any assault weapons that were manufactured pre-ban, ..."

Not only that, but the definition of "assault weapon" is arbitrary and based on physical appearance. Under the prior "ban" it was illegal to sell a semi-automatic, magazine-fed, center-fire rifle which had two or more of a meaningless set of military-looking features.

The features included such nonsense as a pistol-grip, a flash-suppressor, or a bayonet lug (not even a bayonet but the little piece of metal which allowed one to be attached).

Prior to the enactment of Kalifornia's equally ridiculous laws, I purchased a rifle which was completely legal to manufacture, transfer, and possess DURING the ban.

When Kalifornia passed its ridiculous laws, I found it necessary to remove the pistol-grip in order to keep from having to register it as if it were a nuclear weapon.

The truth of the matter, which anti-gunners can't stand, is that ALL weapons are lethal and can be used to carry out a murderous attack, as well as being used to stop such an attack.

Nothing short of outlawing ALL weapons will ever satisfy the anti-gunners. And even then they will ignorantly claim surprise that guns will still be as available as marijuana, meth, or crack. Liberals are simply stupid people who act on their feelings and who are unable to understand the difference between "cause" and "effect".

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.