packing the gun he bought to 'help' the police maintain control.

And right out of the gate, too.

Is it that guns make one Hitler, or that only Hitlers want guns? Inquiring minds want to know.

fascist with the weapon he picked up to help the local constabulary keep order. You know, like the "militias" that showed up at the border to help Border Patrol.

Better?

Privately owned non-sporting weapons are for the purpose of self-defense only. That's a legal distinction.

Last edited Fri Mar 20, 2020, 09:57 AM - Edit history (1)

it is breaking all the gun laws and murdering and robbing folks are? Not gun owners, am I right?

I'm done. I've no patience for splitting hairs.

Here's some context for you:


US sales of guns and ammunition soar amid coronavirus panic buying

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People wait in a line to enter a gun store in Culver City, California, on Sunday. Photograph: Ringo HW Chiu/AP

Not even keeping social distancing, are they?

Ed Pilkington in New York
@edpilkington

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/us-sales-guns-ammunition-soar-amid-coronavirus-panic-buying

Mon 16 Mar 2020 14.10 EDT
Last modified on Wed 18 Mar 2020 06.55 EDT


Sales of guns and ammunition are soaring across the US as fears of possible social unrest amid the coronavirus crisis are prompting some Americans to turn to firearms as a form of self-protection.

On the west coast, long lines of customers were queueing up outside gun stores to stock up on deadly materials. At the Martin B Retting gun shop in Culver City, California, the queues stretched round the block throughout the weekend.

One customer told the LA Times: “Politicians and anti-gun people have been telling us for the longest time that we don’t need guns. But right now, a lot of people are truly scared, and they can make that decision themselves.”

Larry Hyatt, owner of one of the country’s largest gun shops, Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, told the Guardian that the scenes of mass buying at his store were virtually unprecedented. “This is only the second time in my 61 years of business that we’ve seen anything like this,” he said, adding that the first occasion was the aftermath of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut in 2012.

“We are experiencing a massive rush to buy guns and ammunition as people feel the need to protect themselves and their families.”

Hyatt said that the type of guns being bought was reflective of the fear prevalent among customers. There was almost no interest in hunting rifles. Instead, people were opting for target guns and there was big demand for AR-15 semi-automatic assault-style rifles.

Asked why he thought the spike was happening, Hyatt replied: “Financial meltdown, pandemic, crime, politics … you throw it all into the pot, and you have one hell of a mess.”

A major online dealer of ammunition, Ammo.com, has put out figures for sales from 23 February to 4 March that give an indication of the scale of the surge. In that 11-day period sales increased 68% compared to the 11 days up to 23 February.

Sales were especially pronounced in North Carolina and Georgia, which experienced a leap of 179% and 169% respectively. Other states with large increases included Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New York.

In a statement, Ammo.com’s marketing manager, Alex Horsman, said: “We know certain things impact ammo sales, mostly political events or economic instability when people feel their rights may end up infringed. This is our first experience with a virus leading to such a boost in sales.”

Apart from general anxiety surrounding coronavirus, some gun sale spikes appeared to have specific causes. The Trace reported that in Washington state and California, locations of early outbreaks of the virus, gun sales increased acutely propelled by Asian Americans fearful that they could face xenophobic and racist violence against their families given that the original source of coronavirus was China.

“People are panicking because they don’t feel secure. They worry about a riot or maybe that people will start to target the Chinese,” David Liu, a Chinese-American gun dealer outside Los Angeles, told the Trace.

Amid the rush to stockpile lethal weapons, there were concerns for the safety of children. A sudden increase in guns and rifles in domestic homes could put children at risk through lack of safe storage.

Firearms are already the second most prevalent killer of children in the US after car crashes. In the 14- to 17-year-old bracket, gun injuries are the highest single cause of death, according to research from the University of Michigan school of public health.

https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html
[ For ages 14 to under 18, there were 3900 deaths due to all causes. Of those 1299 were firearm related. Let me point out that of those 618, the manner of death was determined as suicide. ]

I am truly sorry for those people who feel the need to fix blame for the virus outbreak and somehow punish or hurt an ethnic group. These folks, who blame Asians, are simple minded at best and, IMO, tend to think with their glands rather than their brains.

However, there have been events that by precedents justify both caution and planning on the part of potentially targeted groups. I live paycheck to paycheck and have concerns about my work and income halting. I am certain many Asians have the same concerns. My life conditions and situations do not permit me to have adequate time or resources to train with a firearm. I feel that the individual is probably the best suited and informed for making his own assessments and decisions. I have faith in people.

Phobias are not amenable to reason.

The mindset of the two groups is all but identical, only the subject of their hatred is different.

But thanks for posting actual researched evidence, as opposed to frothing hatred of some perceived 'other'

You're welcome 😁

I'm not THAT straw man.

Hard to break a gun law if you don't own a gun, I'll grant you that. Meaningless truism, though. What else ya got?

drug gangs, who commit most of our murders, often use "community guns" owned by the gang.

Most sales spike or first time buyers fearing social collapse.

the inane 48 hour waiting period for abortion....

Then we’ll talk.

I wonder if you would tell me slippery slopes are a fallacy?

I suspect that a person who has generally supported all kinds of gun control measures, including waiting periods, would be inclined to accept a waiting period rather than agitate for suspension of those waiting periods, even to get themselves a gun more quickly.

It's a moot point because politicians who support gun control probably believe that a period of high social tension is the worst time to allow people to arm themselves. Law enforcement brass in gun-unfriendly areas would definitely not support any relaxation of waiting periods - and politicians are not going to ignore law enforcement on something like this.

I never really understood the rationale for waiting periods. Is it a suicide-prevention measure? That erroneously presupposes that there aren't plenty of either readily available methods of doing oneself in. Is it to prevent heat-of-the-moment rage killings? That overlooks the fact that heated moments pass very quickly but grudges can be nurtured for a long, long time.

The biggest inanity of all is the fact that waiting periods apply even to people who already own guns: "Let's see ... I want to kill my neighbor, but this old Smith & Wesson just isn't going to cut it. If I can't get a Glock, I'm not going to do it."

But no, I see the pendulum swinging the other way. Waiving waiting periods in times of crisis runs counter to the gun-control article of faith that states that guns are never any good and that access to them should be restricted as much as possible.

Many. many years ago I did business with a gun store that would require a three day waiting period unless you showed them that you owned similar firearms to the one you were buying. I believe I bought a revolver and showed them a gun case with two other handguns inside. I walked out of the store with my new revolver.

Currently in my state you can bypass the waiting period if you have a concealed weapons permit. Lots of gun owners who rarely if ever carry have a permit just so they can bypass the waiting period. I remember a cop using a concealed weapons permit while buying a handgun. He said being even though he was a armed police officer he still had to go through the waiting period if he didn’t have a permit. You still have to go through the NICS phone background check but that usually only takes a few minutes.

In NC, we have a quasi built in waiting period when it comes to handguns.

Each county issues pistol purchase permits.
$5 each.
Maximum of 5 per transaction.
5 business days to process and you must pick them up in person.

This is waived of you have a CCP.

I wouldn't advocate any additional waiting period than that.

As to gun sales: I was in a Bass Pro (in NC) over the weekend. They were entirely picked clean of firearms with the exception of some of the high dollar guns ($2k+).

Ditto for ammo.