Because freedom. Or something:
“There’s a lot of panic buying when Democrats are in power, and a lot of it is driven by the NRA and the gun press,” said convention exhibitor Steve Johnston, a manager at Graf’s Reloading, a gun and ammo shop in St. Charles, Missouri. “But then after a while [following] the election, people start to get depressed and think, ‘Oh wait, I don’t really need three AR-15’s. I need to pay for food.'”
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘guns and butter.’ Sadly, this lunacy has consequences (boldface mine):
And so maybe a couple of those AR-15s end up on the newly saturated secondary gun market, where prices come down and tracking the guns get harder, thanks to the NRA’s efforts to lower the bar for federal gun licenses, which has proliferated the number of “kitchen table” gun dealers. But soon there’s another election cycle to hype, and more gun-confiscation bogeyman to invent. The process begins anew, just in time for the new models. “Having a Democrat in office is sort of like a double-edged sword,” said a representative with a major handgun manufacturer who asked not to be identified. “You want your guy to win, but it’s not as good for business. There will be a sales dip if the Republican wins.”
I would be much happier if gun manufacturers stopped making guns and made swords instead. But I digress.
The only good news is that the gun-totin’ yahoo demographic, like much of the conservative base, is very old. Hopefully, in spite of the corporate propaganda, this will recede over tim.
mikethemadbiologist
My face is getting sore from all the facepalming I do when I read variations on the “Liberals don’t own GUNS” meme.
Stuck in the middle, I am. Authoritarian “conservatives” hate me because I’m Liberal, and Liberals hate me because I like to punch holes in pieces of paper from 100 yards away and don’t have a panic attack at the sight of a .30-06 round.
And my daughter shoots, and if I ever have grandchildren, they will learn to shoot as well.
It’s probably rare for a liberal to own a whole basement full of guns, ammo, accessories, reloading equipment, supplies…
So there’s a “tipping point” where I can’t be a Liberal anymore? Oh, please, I beseech thee, what is this magic number? 3 rifles and no handguns? 6 rifles and 2 handguns? Only 1 handgun, but not in a caliber larger than .22 Long Rifle? Immediate disqualification for owning one AK-47 or AR-15-type rifle?
We don’t criticize liberals for having a complete BDSM dungeon in their basement, so what if they have all the things that go with active participation in the shooting sports down there?
Huh. I don’t remember saying no liberals own a lot of guns. Seems like I said it’s probably more common for Conservatives. Maybe you ought to cut back on the caffeine a bit.
John of Indiana, it might be a “west” thing but a lot of the liberals around here have a decent armory of their own or tend towards ambivalence on the issue of owning guns. In any case, most don’t consider a stance on gun ownership to be a shiboleth of liberalism. It does however seem to be one to conservatives in that if you aren’t 110% everyone* can get a gattling gun at Walmart, you’re a wimpy libural. And I know it isn’t that there are a wide range of actual views on the subject, but the gunnuts (fully supported by gun manufacturers) tend to cow everything else out. Current conservatism isn’t really big on “nuance” these days, if it every was.
And Mike, you kinda touched on one reason that I really see the NRA as hypocritical in their defense fo the 2nd. While most local and state governments treat anything about guns with trepidation, other weapons are free to be restricted almost at whim. Which often makes the life of a martial artists hard. Trying to find an open space to practice with say a Kwan Tao, or nunchucks, or even a staff sometimes, is really hard.** It’s not that I necessarily want to walk down the street with a sword at my side*** but it’s definitely an “arm,” definitely useful for self-defense, and should be under 2nd protection. But the NRA doesn’t come out against these restrictions because they are only about guns, probably because there’s a big gun manufacturing lobby and not a big sword manufacturing/martial artist lobby. So again, FREEDOM for conservativies only comes within one, probably profitable for somebody, way.
* POC’s excluded of course…
** But a lot of these parks have baseball fields. A whole bunch of clubs are okay apparently…
*** a bit of a lie, but I can’t help but think that it’d be more of a hassle then its worth. Aside from the stares and repeating the same conversation with gunnuts (yes I do know there are guns), they are hard to sit down with and tend to bang against things pretty easy.
What I’ve noticed is that if you wait a few years many of the people who panicked and rushed out to buy guns at a premium in anticipation of a Democrat administration are willing to sell at a substantial discount. 10% to 40% off is not uncommon. In the end paying for food, rent, property taxes, and insurance become more important than a very expensive tool with a decidedly limited number of uses. It is even possible to show a tidy profit if you buy after people have figured out there was no need to panic and sell again at the peak of the next panic. And ammunition is often more lucrative than the firearms.