Gun sales observation

[RIBLUEFISH]

I just got back from spending sometime in Nashville with the family for a few days. Before Christmas I stopped in at a few of the local gun stores here in Louisville and saw first hand the long lines,empty shelves, and over pricing of the items that were left. Fast forward to this past weekend. While I was in TN I stopped in a BPS and their shelves were empty of AR accessories and anything that looked tactical. I also stopped at Academy of Sports to check out their fishing department which I heard is one of the best around and it did not disappoint. Their gun rack and tactical accessory isle was also cleaned out. I was able to find one 5" Magpul rail section which I bought just to have. Anyway I was at the counter looking at some Lew's baitcasting reels when one of the employees came over with a printout and called the other employees over to the counter. He procceeded to tell them that last year in December(2011) they sold 1 AR and in the last few weeks they sold 52 AR's.They also had 22 rifles backordered and had a list of names if they are able to fill the 22 backorders. I have to say I was alittle surprised the numbers were so high. I shouldn't have been since I had witnesed what was happening in Louisville. If we do fall off the Fiscal Cliff how many of these people are going to regret the $1200-2000 they just spent on a gun they will probably never shoot? If they do not pass any type of restrictions on assult weapons I can see there being alot of these rifles on consignment at local gun stores in about 6 months. With the craze to find ammo and pay any price for it I think I personnely am going to put mine away and wait for the climate to change.

[DJD]

There will be millions of folks who just hold onto them and go shooting at some private land or pop off a few in the woods. If I lived in an area that didnt have remote land to shoot an AR I wouldn't have purchased one. Of course .223 ammo will be around since many rifles are chambered for that but your right....prices have jumped and it does kinda sukk.

[Hlleonard]

I believe there is enough support for the second amendment among american people to doubt we will see anything pass as far as the government taking guns away... Paranoia among gun owners has caused all this and gun dealers are picking their pockets as fast as they can... Don't understand why a law that might be passed to take your guns away sparks this among gun owners, if that comes to pass, it don't matter how many guns you have or how much ammunition you have, you are going to lose that fight... The only tool we have to fight these kinds of things is the political system and it has worked for us for a few hundred years and personally I believe it will continue to do so.

[DJD]

I believe there is enough support for the second amendment among american people to doubt we will see anything pass as far as the government taking guns away... Paranoia among gun owners has caused all this and gun dealers are picking their pockets as fast as they can... Don't understand why a law that might be passed to take your guns away sparks this among gun owners, if that comes to pass, it don't matter how many guns you have or how much ammunition you have, you are going to lose that fight... The only tool we have to fight these kinds of things is the political system and it has worked for us for a few hundred years and personally I believe it will continue to do so.

I have to ask....do you think we are safe from gun restrictions that cross the line as far as the right to bear arms? You know how the gubment works...they take an inch and they will take more once your used to that inch they been taking. I'm of the belief that they should not take that initial inch.
I don't think they will take guns away but it does piss me off that they can restrict what we can buy. I hear people say well who needs an assault weapon? I always ask what is an assault weapon? A semi auto?? Hi-cap pistols?? Something that looks tactical? It's just such a slippery slope and to have people decide like the complete dingleberries we have in charge makes me shake my head. They cannot pass a budget, secure the borders, get the economy up, get the deficit down, run social security but yet they are going to control law abiding citizens with guns??? It's ridiculous, ya know when do people get their head out of their back ends?? These legislators have a low approval rating due to their incompetence but yet they would rather make more laws because they think they should.

[GeoFisher]

Now, don't smack me down, but I'm changing my views a little on this.

While I don't want the gubment EVER being able to step in and take my rights away, I do think we need a more effective way of managing illegal gun sales.

Everyone ON this forum knows it is crazy easy to get a gun, any gun. I can go to the gun show, I can go to a flea market, I can instant message pretty much anyone on this site, and I can come up with a gun.

While I'm not a felon or a criminal, you guys don't know that. I could enter into a purchase of a rifle, handgun, shotgun, ak, whatever from someone here or one any of the thousands of boards and places that exist for me to purchase a weapon.

With that being said, I think we need some GUARANTEES from our politicians, and then we need a registration system for all guns. That registration system should include a fee for transfer of firearms from party 1 to party 2. We already do similar things for automobiles........it could be very easy to implement something similar for guns.

My only concern with that is the obvious that the GUBMENT now knows what and where and how many I have. I NEVER want them to know that, but if there were iron clad guarantees about the information maybe, just maybe we could make some concessions that don't hurt my 2nd amendment rights, and also severely limits and restricts gun ownership for folks that should NEVER own a gun.

Again, I don't know the answers, but this could go a long way to helping with illegal and illicit weapons getting into the wrong hands.

Yea, I know criminals will STILL get a gun when they want a gun, but I guarantee you this will eliminate at least half of the guns exchanging hands illegally........

Finally....how many of you guys get crazy pissed when someone runs a red light, or keeps 100 bass, or shoots 4 deer out of season......those are all laws, yet we ALL know someone who should not own a weapon......whats' the difference?

Later,

Geo

[MrSplitshot]

I could go along with a gun registration process, and transfer process, similar to that of owning and transferring an automobile. It could neither be cost prohibitive, nor overly paperworked...the cost or the process shouldn't prevent anyone who wants to legally own, sell, or buy a firearm from doing so. No annual property tax BS either...sales tax on the original sale based on the state, and that's it.

I could even halfway go along with a "license" to possess and use a firearm with some kind of test similar to a drivers test. We expect people to know the rules and know how to operate a car safely - Why not a gun? There are people who own guns they have never shot, aren't proficient with, and know nothing about the basic principles of firearm safety and marksmanship.

I'm not so hardcore right that I couldn't compromise on some things like this...but it would have to come with some guarantees, some checks and balances, and some concessions that use common sense on things like magazines and "assault weapon" BS.

[Hlleonard]

I have to ask....do you think we are safe from gun restrictions that cross the line as far as the right to bear arms? You know how the gubment works...they take an inch and they will take more once your used to that inch they been taking. I'm of the belief that they should not take that initial inch.
I don't think they will take guns away but it does piss me off that they can restrict what we can buy. I hear people say well who needs an assault weapon? I always ask what is an assault weapon? A semi auto?? Hi-cap pistols?? Something that looks tactical? It's just such a slippery slope and to have people decide like the complete dingleberries we have in charge makes me shake my head. They cannot pass a budget, secure the borders, get the economy up, get the deficit down, run social security but yet they are going to control law abiding citizens with guns??? It's ridiculous, ya know when do people get their head out of their back ends?? These legislators have a low approval rating due to their incompetence but yet they would rather make more laws because they think they should.

--
I don't get into many of these discussions involving guns because I'm not an avid shooter or gun owner, it has been probably a couple of years since I pulled the trigger on any kind of firearm... I don't believe however that we are in any danger of losing our rights under the second amendment for the foreseeable future anyway... There seems to be a lot of noise made when something happens such as happened recently but that's not new... I suspect in the future somewhere, we will see changes to the laws concerning guns, I have noticed just today in a couple of post some changes in attitudes of a couple of fellas on this board concerning gun ownership.... Our political system needs tweaking to say the least.

[Devils Horse]

Better listen to DJD on this one. Once the government compromises the 2nd amendment a little, they will eventually compromise it a lot. They always do.

Think back just a little, you only have your current gun rights still in place now because of a one person majority in the US Supreme Court. The same court that ruled the federal government can force you to buy insurance.

Geo, you disappoint me. Ironclad guarantee from the government eh? Maybe somebody hijacked your handle.

[GeoFisher]

Better listen to DJD on this one. Once the government compromises the 2nd amendment a little, they will eventually compromise it a lot. They always do.

Think back just a little, you only have your current gun rights still in place now because of a one person majority in the US Supreme Court. The same court that ruled the federal government can force you to buy insurance.

Geo, you disappoint me. Ironclad guarantee from the government eh? Maybe somebody hijacked your handle.

I understand Horse, but this stuff needs to end....I know there is no such thing as an iron clad guarantee.

But I also know that we have people buying guns at gun shows, flea markets, and fairs. Lots of those people are buying them illegally. I know YOU don't want a crazy dude walking into the flea market and walking out with an AK, and then taking that same AK and killing innocent folks.

WE have no idea how many of those illegal transactions happen, but they do......

I don't know the answers, but something needs to be done.

And you're right.......the Supreme court ruled that we have to buy insurance, and the NEXT supreme court might take away your right to bear arms.....a pre emptive strike of REGISTRATION just might keep that from happening.

I don't know.

Later,

Geo

[Devils Horse]

I understand Horse, but this stuff needs to end....I know there is no such thing as an iron clad guarantee.

But I also know that we have people buying guns at gun shows, flea markets, and fairs. Lots of those people are buying them illegally. I know YOU don't want a crazy dude walking into the flea market and walking out with an AK, and then taking that same AK and killing innocent folks.

WE have no idea how many of those illegal transactions happen, but they do......

I don't know the answers, but something needs to be done.

And you're right.......the Supreme court ruled that we have to buy insurance, and the NEXT supreme court might take away your right to bear arms.....a pre emptive strike of REGISTRATION just might keep that from happening.

I don't know.

Later,

Geo

We'll agree to disagree.

I've never seen a crazy guy buying an AK at a flea market. Mass shootings I can think of off the cuff were done with guns purchased through normal channels, leaving normal paper trails. Don't remember a flea market purchased weapon being used in any mass shootings, but I could be wrong.

Seems to me the whole flea market and gun show argument is an easy way for gun control advocates to get their agenda started.

All that said, I own a legally purchased 9mm handgun for home protection...that's it.

[GeoFisher]

We'll agree to disagree.

I've never seen a crazy guy buying an AK at a flea market. Mass shootings I can think of off the cuff were done with guns purchased through normal channels, leaving normal paper trails. Don't remember a flea market purchased weapon being used in any mass shootings, but I could be wrong.

Seems to me the whole flea market and gun show argument is an easy way for gun control advocates to get their agenda started.

All that said, I own a legally purchased 9mm handgun for home protection...that's it.

Yyou know.....come to think of it.....I don't think I can name a single incident of a weapon purchased from those areas have been used in a mass shooting.......Maybe they don't exist.

I don't know.......and maybe it really is not that big of a problem. My point is the left uses that quite a bit, so couldn't the gun lobby make that go away with a few concessions?

Later,

Geo

[Olgrey]

I do not know what the answer is either, but when you start losing rights, even a little bit at a time, most times it never stops. That is the way Hitler came onto the world scene, a little bit at a time, and he tried to conquer the world. Our second amendments rights are protected more than some countries because they are written into the Constitution. I would suggest that people read about some countries gun laws for example Australia and England. In 1996, I believe it was, Australian politicians passed laws forcing people to sell most of their guns to the government. From what I read there were and still are some exceptions, but you have to apply for a permit to own most weapons and self defense is not an acceptable reason to own them. Some of their politicians were quoted as talking about how evil guns are. I do not know how a lump of wood and steel can be evil. Going by their thinking I guess a lamp could be called evil because I am sure that people have been killed with lamps. England has gun laws so strict, they control how powerful an air rifle/pellet gun that you can purchase to kill pests with. In the beginning, people were choked with and beaten to death with other people's hands, then it progressed to rocks, sticks, knives, spears, bows and arrows, and you know the rest. The only difference is the level of technology available for use. In Africa mass killings still occur with spears and machetes so I am not sure there is an answer. Just my opinion folks.