# My girlfriend's uncle is buying a gun this weekend... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 9, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090 "2011-03-09T20:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/41 "2011-03-11T12:59:39Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > gold is a wise investment–especially physical gold. As opposed to metaphysical gold? ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/42 "2011-03-11T22:39:50Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > As opposed to metaphysical gold? For those who may not know, people use the phrase physical gold to refer to bullion in hand, as opposed to other gold plays (exchange traded funds, Perth mint certificates, futures, or even gold mining stocks). ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/43 "2011-03-12T03:21:39Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > **Never**. Where are you getting this? Its actually basic economics. If additional money invested in an economy (through investment, If you vote democratic…through tax reduction if you vote Republo) creates a ripple effect of economic expansion, then money removed from the economy (via investment in dead-weight metals for instance) creates the exact opposite vicious circle of economic contraction. The more money taken out of inanimate objects and invested in enterprise, the faster we can return to our prior economic level. And no one has [del]whored[/del] hoard for gold harder than that old tear-jerk, Glen Beck. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/44 "2011-03-12T09:29:56Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > The man did two legal things that normal people do every day. He did so, it’s true, out of an expressed view that (in an economically and politically tumultuous time) there might be civil unrest, which he (rightly or wrongly) associates with Obama, whom he doesn’t trust to preserve his liberties, maintain order and sovereignty in the U.S. > > Well, I suspect he overestimates the risk of “war” and overestimates the causal role Obama would play in bringing about any unrest (personally I think it’s not out of the question that we might see First World food riots if commodities really take off, inflation starts to hit, and we have a drought or two – you can blame Obama I suppose for the inflation, in part). But he’s buying cheap insurance against what he regards as a serious risk. > > YMMV. But I’d not go with “nuts.” And the fact that he considers is a serious risk means he’s nuts, at least when it comes to politics. He has nutty political views, and thus discussing politics with him would be rather pointless. IOW, I think you focused on the wrong part of the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/45 "2011-03-12T11:00:57Z")
I’d be more concerned if your girlfriend’s _father_ had mentioned to you that he was buying a gun. 😃 The gold could be somewhat useful. If he also stocks up on bullet-loading equipment, brass casings for his weapon, and gun powder (and primer?), he could cast the gold into bullets! I mean, fishing weights would be _cheaper_, but if you’re going to go down in a hail of bullets, you might as well go down in style. Er… so to speak. But yeah, I’m curious, what kind of gun? I was thinking if I bought a rifle, it’d either be something classy and bolt-action, or a Ruger Mini-14. I mean, I COULD get an AR-15 style, but a Ruger Mini-14 would scare the neighbors marginally less and the faux-assault-rifle-chic is a bit overdone nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/46 "2011-03-12T17:00:30Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Its actually basic economics. > > If additional money invested in an economy (through investment, If you vote democratic…through tax reduction if you vote Republo) creates a ripple effect of economic expansion, then money removed from the economy (via investment in dead-weight metals for instance) creates the exact opposite vicious circle of economic contraction. > > The more money taken out of inanimate objects and invested in enterprise, the faster we can return to our prior economic level. > > And no one has [del]whored[/del] hoard for gold harder than that old tear-jerk, Glen Beck. My post acknowledged that over time, lack of investment capital can hinder growth/recovery, but that in the short run all it would do is affect the (irrelevant, on a short term basis) level of the market. Aside from the fact that I infer that your “investment . . . if you vote democratic” contemplates at least in substantial part “investment” by the government of my tax money – The post to which I was responding, and your arguments, do nothing to support: (a) The supposed **motive** the poster attributed to gold-buying conservatives (some complex plot to discredit Obama by suppressing the stock market and then (long down the road) actual economic recovery); and (b) the fact that anything like this has, in fact, occurred in the markets. It hasn’t! The stock market (along with commodities markets, and bond markets) has absolutely boomed over the past two years. My take is part of the boom in the dollar-valued stock market is attributable to the diminishing real value of the dollar in response to running the printing press non-stop for two years, but there is neither an organized plot, nor an actual outcome, driven by right wingers to suppress the stock market to kill economic recovery, to spite Obama, by buying gold, which is what the poster asserted. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/47 "2011-03-12T20:02:20Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > He has also started getting his savings converted into gold coins. He says he wants the gun so he’s prepared for the “Obama wars”. This is a man in his 50s in Northeast OH. 😕 A) What is the question? B) Gold appreciates. The best rate on 5-yr CDs right now is a pidlling 1%. C) Don’t need a reason to want a gun. I own several, just because I can. Although I guess one might say I’m prepared for whatever war may or may not happen. D) What does age have to do with it? E) What involvment do you even have with anyone in your GF’s family, let alone some middle-aged uncle? F) And what do you think you could do about it, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/48 "2011-03-12T20:20:33Z")
> [@Marc\_Xenos](#): > > A) What is the question? > B) Gold appreciates. The best rate on 5-yr CDs right now is a pidlling 1%. > C) Don’t need a reason to want a gun. I own several, just because I can. Although I guess one might say I’m prepared for whatever war may or may not happen. > D) What does age have to do with it? > E) What involvment do you even have with anyone in your GF’s family, let alone some middle-aged uncle? > F) And what do you think you could do about it, anyway? A) This is MPSIMS B) I’ve no doubt there’s reasons to buy gold, but doing so because you fear the impending “Obama wars” strikes me as a tad odd. C) Again, there are many reasons to buy a gun, including just wanting to own one. Buying one to protect yourself during the aforementioned Obama wars seems a tad odd too. D) Just to provide context E) Very little, thankfully F) I didn’t say I was going to do anything about it, see the forum I posted the OP in again. You seem very hostile. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/52 "2011-03-14T14:22:06Z")
Obama Wars sounds like the worst Facebook game ever. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/53 "2011-03-14T15:53:14Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Scary. And this whole thing about the Conservatives/Republicans keepign their money out of the stock market in order to prevent economic recovery during the current administration - isn’t that treason? I work for a coin and stamp company that deals a lot of bullion - FWIW the majority of people swapping stocks for gold and silver right now are more liberal Democrats. It’s one of the things that gives me some concern; right now in this economy we aren’t following the usual trends (for lack of a better word). I giggled a lot during the whole Y2K thing but for a lot of small reasons like who has the worst cases of nerves and who is actually acting on them, this round isn’t as funny. > [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Buying gold coins is nuts. Gold is at all-time highs but it’d have to double just to break even if you buy it in coin form. Not quite. We buy at 90-95% of spot and sell at 102-105% of spot. Jewelry and bars are where you need major increases to really profit, not coins and bullion coins. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/54 "2011-03-14T19:32:06Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Not quite. We buy at 90-95% of spot and sell at 102-105% of spot. Jewelry and bars are where you need major increases to really profit, not coins and bullion coins. Good to know, so I can keep demanding my ransoms in Krugerrands, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/55 "2011-03-14T20:53:50Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Good to know, so I can keep demanding my ransoms in Krugerrands, right? 😉 Or guns. Apparently they will be the other currency of the future. ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/56 "2011-03-14T21:00:16Z")
HAHAHAHA thats awesome but yeah you should have a serious talk with him. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/57 "2011-03-14T21:22:57Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Or guns. Apparently they will be the other currency of the future. I’m also assuming wide spread power outages so I’ll bet that hard copy porn will also be quite valuable. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090/58 "2011-03-15T15:42:44Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Good to know, so I can keep demanding my ransoms in Krugerrands, right? 😉 Personally I would go with the US silver Eagles but ------- to each his own. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-girlfriends-uncle-is-buying-a-gun-this-weekend/574090.md?page=2)