A couple months ago, there were reports of a large increase in gun sales. These were mostly from first-time buyers who were getting a gun license for the first time and taking courses for beginners on how to shoot.
The popular wisdom was that this was because of fear of the BLM violence, also stoked by that incident in St. Louis where a couple of lawyers living in a gated community brandished their guns.at the protesters.
Now, over the past couple weeks, we’ve seen violence again.
But this time, it’s by good patriotic citizens, of course. But it looks like the protests failed, and those libural dems have managed to steal the election and take all our freedoms away. [/sarcasm]
So are people stocking up on guns again? i seem to remember that when Obama won, there was a run on gun sales that created shortages. Is that happening again?
Anybody got any numbers?
I posted a good bit about the reported increase in sales, which has been confirmed anecdotally by others. The main issue is you have not been able to buy ammunition since . . . April? I don’t mean zero - but it’s all out of stock/backordered, and if you know someone at a local store that will set some aside for you, you’re talking about 1-2 boxes. Reloading supplies are the same.
Since there isn’t a federal or even state tracker of gun and ammunition sales available, you’re not going to get statistics generally - the statistics showing the increase in gun sales came from interpreting self-reported feedback from national gun shop reporting as well as a massive increase in background checks for handgun purchases.
NICS back ground checks have been up significantly, each month, for quite some time. This PDF from the FBI shows checks by month for the last several years. The back ground checks do not measure actual gun sales, but they are a very good indication. By the time you get to the part of taking a background check you already usually know if you are allowed to buy a gun.
I know for a fact that the gun store nearby me has been having chronic shortages of ammo, especially 9mm. It’s always out of stock and all bought out as soon as they get any more shipments. I’ve heard it was the same all around town.
I can’t keep any popular ammo in stock, especially 9mm and 223.
Anything semi-auto with a “high capacity” mag sells within hours after I received it from the distributor.
The run on firearms and ammo now makes what happened under Obama look like nothing. The difference is Obama did not say he was going to initiate mandatory buybacks and large taxes on property people already own.
While I am raking it in, I also remind people that prior to the Vegas shooting I had sold 2 bump stocks. After serious talk of banning them started we sold dozens and had orders for over one hundred more. And what happened? They were banned and people either had to destroy them, turn them in with no compensation, or become federal felons. The same thing could happen with the guns and magazines folks are stocking up on now. What Unca Joe is proposing is not like the ban in 1994 where people were allowed to keep what they already owned.
Well all I know is, I want to buy a specific weapon, and they are continually out of stock. Damn fool scardy cats hogging all the good guns. There’s probably crap guns in the stores, but who wants that junk. Oh well, they can’t keep it up forever.
