There Are Two Ways To Read This Story

There Are Two Ways To Read This Story

1. Americans are scared witless of a big tax increase on ammunition.

2. Americans are really, really upset about what those crooked morons in Washington are doing, and worried that they are going to need to use that ammunition.

From the February 10, 2009 Orlando Sentinel:

Selling bullets may be the most secure job in Florida as long as supplies last.

After months of heavy buying, gun dealers across the state are experiencing shortages.

Some say it began with the election of President Barack Obama. Others say it's about the economic downturn or fear of crime. Whatever the reasons, ammunition has been selling like plywood and bottled water in the days before a hurricane.

"The survivalist in all of us comes out," said John Ritz, manager of East Orange Shooting Sports in Winter Park. "It's more about protecting what you have."

Demand for bullets is so strong that suppliers are restricting deliveries.

"Where we used to get 20 to 30 cases [in a shipment], we may get two to three cases now," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders in Tampa. "The supply just isn't there. . . . Everybody is pretty much rushing out to get their hands on whatever they can."

Most in demand is handgun ammunition, including 9 mm and .45-caliber for semiautomatic pistols and .38-caliber for revolvers. Clerks at local Walmart stores, including Apopka and Kissimmee, say those sizes, along with .22-caliber, are on back order at the chain's warehouses.

There has been a very noticeable increase in "time for pitchforks and torch" rhetoric out there--and I get the impression that much of the militia movement of the 1990s is starting to return. I'll be posting about that another day when I have more time--but Washington should stop its bender with other people's money long enough to notice the level of disgust and rage that is beginning to build up.

When the economy was doing okay, a lot of people weren't paying enough attention to the lying, crooked, dishonest empty suits in Congress. But when people are losing their jobs, it wonderfully concentrates their attention.