Sales of guns rise after Obama win - A Current Affair

(Fair Use) Sales of guns in the United States are on the rise as gun enthusiasts fear President-elect Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress will impose new restrictions on firearms.

For the month of October, as Obama appeared headed for victory, sales of guns jumped 15 percent, with about 150,000 long-guns sold for a total of 1.18 million firearms purchased, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which checks police records of gun buyers.

Although more recent figures are not yet available, the spike in sales of rifles, handguns and semi-automatics began in the spring and surged in October.

"Certainly the election has something to do with it, certainly in October it did. As it got closer and closer and it looked more and more like an Obama victory, the sales went skyrocketing in late October," said Tony Aeschliman, spokesman for the National Shooting Sport Foundation.

In gun shops across the country, sales were brisk.

"They are afraid of gun control. The Second Amendment says legally by law we can have firearms. He's going to attempt to take that right away from us," said Jimmy, owner of the Republic Arms gun shop in Houston, Texas, referring to the president-elect.

At the Continental Arms gun shop in Baltimore, Maryland, the owner said it was clear Obama's electoral triumph was driving gun sales even if customers were not saying so openly.

"People are not really saying something but I'm sure it does have something to do with Obama's election because he's very anti-guns," said Jay, whose store has seen sales increase in recent weeks.

During the election campaign, Obama said he respected rights associated with the Second Amendment of the US Constitution — which gun advocates say allows them to own a firearm — but as a state lawmaker in Illinois, he voted for several measures restricting sales of certain categories of firearms.

"The philosophy behind this is that people are legitimately concerned that under the Obama administration with a majority of Democrats in both the House and the Senate, there will be an attempt to ban certain types of firearms," including semi-automatic rifles, said Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week.

The last election of a Democratic president in 1992 sparked a similar gun buying spree, said Aeschliman.

"That same phenomenon had happened when (Bill) Clinton was first elected. There was a lot of panic buying because he was not perceived to be favorable to guns," he said.

A rise in unemployment — the jobless rate hit 6.5 percent the highest in 14 years — could also help explain the surge in sales.

"One thing we do know is when unemployment starts to climb, hunters tend to hunt more. They have time on their hands and they can put meat in the freezer, that's definitely a factor."

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=663111

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[GunOwnerDan]

How could there be a shooting at Virginia Tech? It's a "GUN FREE ZONE"!

[madeinamerica650]

Yea because we stand up for our rights unlike Australia. australians rolled over with their thumbs in their butt while their government took away semiauto weapons.

gues what Australia unlike you we are not a bunch of kangaroo fucking liberals.

This media group wants australia to think America is wrong for having the right to bare arms.

[tassiemarketstall]

@schauwn The 9500 people killed by guns in 2011 in the U.S dont get to be alive and free do they? Silly yank. You dont need enemies outside the U.S, you lot do a great job killing each other.

[Leflore2]

They took our jobs

[Hoschi0913]

somehow i miss how many lifes got safed by lawabiding citizens with guns or how many burglary's didnt happen because the homeowners had guns,guess thats easy to froget,like the million of people transportedeach day in an airplane,when one crashes and about 200 die

[schauwn]

lol the only place where our gun laws are controversial is every other nation in the world... silly ausie guns are for the free.

[Libertytreeradio]

Libertytreeradio for more videos on youtube that will help you to prepare for what is coming. UN ban is now waiting in the senate with the lame ducks wanting revenge against america before they are kicked out. Ne Copuola Nobiscum! MGK/GDW!

[paigow66]

@annasajerk they also DON'T tell you how many lives are saved by guns each day and how many criminals are stopped by a civilian with a gun.

[labartic]

A gun didnt kill Kennedy. Someone shooting a gun killed Kennedy. A gun doesnt pick itself up and shoot anyone. If there is a documented case of that ever happening, we are in trouble.

[labartic]

1:20 A .45 wont physically knock someone down either buddy. Maybe a 44 mag would increase your chances much better. I know of real life shooting incidents where 100lb women take multiple .45 hollow points in the chest and keep going.

[bigd5000100]

im 13 i carry and its hard to kill people who carry