The Panic Buying Continues

The Panic Buying Continues

The March 13, 2009 Tulsa World indicates that the panic buying continues:

Four months after the election of President Barack Obama, firearms and ammunition sales in Tulsa remain at a fever pitch.

Popular self-protection ammunition is often sold out at local stores, weapons are flying off shelves and the state reports an 87 percent increase in concealed carry permit applications for February 2009 over February 2008.

"People are hoarding. They're creating a shortage," Jim Prall at Sports World on 41st Street said of ammunition sales. "We've sold more ammunition in the last three months than we sold last year."

Gun sales spiked in November with the election of Barack Obama and Democrats adding to their majority in Congress. But local gun dealers say the spike is turning into a steady climb with political worries about gun rights as well as worries about the economy and potential for increased crime.

Much of the coverage of this emphasizes handguns and personal protection concerns--but there's this astonishing report of Smith & Wesson's transition from losing money to profitability from March 12, 2009 Associated Press:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- The parent of gun maker Smith & Wesson reported Thursday that it climbed to a profit in its fiscal third quarter from a year-ago loss, as sales of handguns and tactical rifles soared.

...

"While our hunting business continues to suffer in the current economic environment, the market for hunting rifles in a healthy economy is a sizeable one," said Michael F. Golden, president and chief executive. "In addition, this portion of our business produces barrels for our tactical rifles, products that are clearly in very high demand right now."

I confess that I didn't know that S&W sold "tactical rifles" to civilians. But sure enough, here are their AR-15s. S&W does not have a large presence in this market, in my experience. I read through Shotgun News pretty regularly, and I can't recall ever seeing S&W's rifles offered. So I would guess that the makers of such rifles with higher visibility must be running at full production capacity, all shifts, to keep up with demand.

I'm reminded of a coy little item that appeared in the January 10, 1775 Essex (Mass.) Gazette:

POWDER bears a very good price in this town; the people from all parts of the country, the fall past, having bought up almost all there was, to defend themselves against wolves, and other beasts of PREY.

That was just a little more than three months before "the shot heard 'round the world." If the Obama Administration is as dumb as they seem to be, they'll try some disarming effort, or attempt to shut down talk radio--and then the fertilizer will hit the fan. And that will likely be the beginning of the end of the current system of government in the United States. I would like to think that the results will be a vast improvement, but the history of violent revolution is actually pretty dark, with the most brutal factions often ending up on top.