# Obama gun buying panic subsiding **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2009, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385 "2009-06-20T08:16:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/21 "2009-06-20T20:38:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Last month, while we were in a movie theater waiting for Star Trek to begin, my mom leaned over and whispered to me, “I want to get a gun that can’t get traced back to me.” > > “Why?” I asked. > > “So when they start coming for people, they won’t know I’m armed.” (Or words to that effect.) > > “Mom,” I said. “You can get a gun. But ‘they’ would have _tanks_.” So how are tanks supposed to help the government know who has unregistered guns? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/22 "2009-06-20T22:58:49Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > So how are tanks supposed to help the government know who has unregistered guns? What makes you think that “they” would care if it was registered or not ? Or refrain from doing whatever it is “they” are supposed to do if they didn’t know you had a gun ? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/23 "2009-06-20T23:36:48Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > So how are tanks supposed to help the government know who has unregistered guns? My point was that if they want to come get her, her gun is not going to help. She’ll be out-armed and out-skilled. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/24 "2009-06-21T05:57:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > What makes you think that “they” would care if it was registered or not ? Or refrain from doing whatever it is “they” are supposed to do if they didn’t know you had a gun ? Well if it’s not registered, they probably won’t know about it, and thus won’t do anything. Not that I personally think the government will be coming to confiscate guns any time soon, but why would they roll tanks out to fight people they don’t know have guns? > [@Frylock](#): > > My point was that if they want to come get her, her gun is not going to help. She’ll be out-armed and out-skilled. See above. I see no reason to think that she’d have to fight tanks with a gun the government doesn’t know about. It doesn’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/25 "2009-06-21T06:18:07Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > Well if it’s not registered, they probably won’t know about it, and thus won’t do anything. Not that I personally think the government will be coming to confiscate guns any time soon, but why would they roll tanks out to fight people they don’t know have guns? For the same reason they’d roll out tanks to fight the people _with_ guns. Obama, aka the Secret Muslim Antichrist, leader of the One World Order Atheistic Evolutionary Socialist Conspiracy told them to. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/26 "2009-06-21T06:21:44Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > So how are tanks supposed to help the government know who has unregistered guns? Or more importantly, how are you planning to take money from 300,000,000 people with 500 tanks in anything like a timely fashion? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/27 "2009-06-21T06:42:51Z")
The ammo shortage is a factor in the drop off in firearm purchases, a gun without ammo is simply a club of dubious effectiveness… I was in my local gun store this afternoon, I wanted to have the gunsmith take a quick look at my Kimber 1911 (thinking about installing an adjustable rear sight) and while I was there, I listened in on a conversation between a customer and gun counter clerk, the customer was wanting to buy a pistol, general use/target shooting/personal defense, he looked at all calibers from .25 ACP (perfect for annoying a perp) to .45 ACP, spent most of his time looking at the .32/.380/9mm group, but left empty handed, as the store had no commercial ammo in any common handgun calibers except .380, and there was a two box limit on that, and only if it was purchased with a .380 chambered pistol, it wasn’t available for a OTC purchase the only ammo they had for handguns were .44 Mag, and .45 Colt …no .22LR even Thank Og I have a decent amount of .22LR on hand, as well as my .45 ACP reloading components… (happily gazes at his boxes of 1500 Large Pistol primers, Winchester 231 propellant, bullets, and reloading components for .45 ACP) yes, my precioussss, tricksy Obamases will never gets you! Gollum! 😉 Only problem now is due to the scarcity of components (especially primers), I’m hesitant to actually use them up, not counting the 1500 unused, boxed primers, I have around 500ish primed .45 cases that I just need to drop a powder charge in and seat bullets in the .22’s are seeing a lot more use, but I’m even rationing those, I can only imagine what a first-time firearms owner is going through at this stage, starting from scratch at the current prices… $20 for a 500 round brick of .22?? I remember a few years back I could get 500 round bricks for $9.95 (why didn’t I stock up then?..) I’d say the slowdown has more to do with prices/scarcity/hoarders than it does the Obama administration I haven’t seen decent amounts of .45 ACP, 9mm, .22, or .30-06 in well over six months, if it wasn’t for my .45 reloads (.08¢/round compared to .30¢/round commercial ammo), I’d be limited to .22 (.03¢/round), my .30-06 costs me $1 every time I pull the trigger (20 rounds for $20) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/28 "2009-06-21T07:08:10Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > the customer was wanting to buy a pistol, general use/target shooting/personal defense, he looked at all calibers from .25 ACP (perfect for annoying a perp) ) Although certainly it would hardly be anyones choice of weapon for a police main weapon, trust me, you do not want to be shot be a .25. It’s quite deadly. Not as deadly as other calibers, true, but unless you were pretty cranked up and also huge as a sumo wrestler, 9 rounds of .25 in the body cavity from a Beretta is going to make you dead on the spot. There is also a general scarcity of ammo due to the continuing conflict in Iraq, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/29 "2009-06-21T07:21:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Although certainly it would hardly be anyones choice of weapon for a police main weapon, trust me, you do not want to be shot be a .25. It’s quite deadly. Not as deadly as other calibers, true, but unless you were pretty cranked up and also huge as a sumo wrestler, 9 rounds of .25 in the body cavity from a Beretta is going to make you dead on the spot. > > There is also a general scarcity of ammo due to the continuing conflict in Iraq, etc. I’m loving it - have all the guns you want … but no ammo! 😃 Guns don’t kill people, bullets do! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/30 "2009-06-21T10:47:36Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > Well if it’s not registered, they probably won’t know about it, and thus won’t do anything. Not that I personally think the government will be coming to confiscate guns any time soon, but why would they roll tanks out to fight people they don’t know have guns? > > See above. I see no reason to think that she’d have to fight tanks with a gun the government doesn’t know about. It doesn’t make sense. I see the miscommunication here. She wasn’t talking about when they come around to get people’s guns, she was talking about when they come around to get _people_. In other words, she wants an unregistered gun so that she doesn’t have to give it up when they take everyone’s guns, _so that she can defend herself against the gov’t if it decides to act against her._ So I pointed out that if the gov’t wants to come get her, it doesn’t matter if she’s got a gun or not. They have tanks. If they’re going to come get her, they’re going to come get her, gun or not, registered or not. Does that clear it up for you? ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/31 "2009-06-21T13:14:31Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > I would like to blame Obama for the insane prices of ammunition but I just can’t. From what I can tell it is pretty much the same type of people who panicked during Y2K who is responsible for the price increase/shortage. > > By the same type of people I mean the uneducated or easy to manipulate crowd. I say this with members of my own family included unfortunately. Different people, same behavior. I mentioned in a mailing list that it was at least simulating the economy. I don’t like HOW the administration is doing things, but I cannot fault them for doing it. I am however much happier with this administration as it seems like they’re at least trying to fix the problem and not just take all the money they can for themselves. And perhaps it’s because I’m a little happy (for the first time in about 15 years) with them that it seems like the folks complaining are overreacting nutjobs. I’m sure this stuff was out there before and I just didn’t know it. Whoda thunk the only thing worse than a libral nutjob was a conservative nutjob? Anyway, I haven’t had much involvement in firearms in the last 20 years, so I’m not exactly qualified to comment. It _was_ and interesting experience, taking all of Dad’s firearms to the consignment shop. They didn’t seem to have any issues with being understocked. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/32 "2009-06-21T13:19:48Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > For the same reason they’d roll out tanks to fight the people _with_ guns. Obama, aka the Secret Muslim Antichrist, leader of the One World Order Atheistic Evolutionary Socialist Conspiracy told them to. I’m annoyed that didn’t make some really cool acronym. SMA, leader of the OWOAESC doesn’t really strike fear..like SMERSH or CHAOS. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/33 "2009-06-21T14:03:16Z")
Several years ago I bought some surplus 5.56mm from Martin B. Retting Gun Shop in Culver City, CA, a store not known for its low prices. 840 rounds in stripper clips, in bandoliers with the cardboard inserts, in a new Israeli-marked .50 caliber-sized ammo can. IIRC it was something like $139. Last month I got one of those hunting/shooting catalogues in the mail; one of those that shooters get that has low prices. 1,000 rounds for $999. A dollar a pop! Sure, prices go up over the years and I bought my ammo pre-9/11. But going from 16.5¢ per round to a dollar a round is outrageous. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/34 "2009-06-21T15:01:11Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I see the miscommunication here. She wasn’t talking about when they come around to get people’s guns, she was talking about when they come around to get _people_. > > In other words, she wants an unregistered gun so that she doesn’t have to give it up when they take everyone’s guns, _so that she can defend herself against the gov’t if it decides to act against her._ So I pointed out that if the gov’t wants to come get her, it doesn’t matter if she’s got a gun or not. They have tanks. If they’re going to come get her, they’re going to come get her, gun or not, registered or not. > > Does that clear it up for you? Well in that case, I don’t see why she’d even care if it was registered or not. I mean if the government is coming for her anyway, a registered gun is just as effective as an unregistered gun, unless she wants to get the element of surprise on them. I’m not saying it wouldn’t still be futile; I just don’t get the perspective. > [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > I’m loving it - have all the guns you want … but no ammo! 😃 Guns don’t kill people, bullets do! That makes me think of a Chris Rock skit. > [@](#): > > You don’t need no gun control. You know what you need? You need some bullet control. We need to control the bullets, that’s right. I think all bullets should cost $5000. $5000 for a bullet, you know why? 'Cause if a bullet cost $5000, there’d be no more innocent bystanders. Every time somebody get’s shot, you’d be like, “Damn, he must’ve done something. They put $50,000 worth of bullets in his ass!” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/35 "2009-06-21T16:06:04Z")
> [@the\_first\_supraliminal](#): > > Anyone who owns automatic weapons is crazy and dangerous. I agree. Marines are especially nutters. Oh, wait… Seriously, both the paranoia and the knee-jerk irrational hoplophobia are pretty tiresome. A firearm is a tool, and like many tools one that few people really need or make practical use of but that most responsible adults can be trained to use safely. As for Obama and gun control, this doesn’t seem to be high on his list; not only does he have a lot of other things to worry about (and gun control has been demonstrated at being ineffectual about markedly reducing the incidence of violent crime) but the experience of Bill Clinton and the once-dominant Democratic congress that he enjoyed early in his Presidency being besieged by outraged gun owners who became single issue voters supporting a bunch of hypocritical self-proclaimed “neo-Conservatives” who leveraged that issue to maximum effect (despite the fact that most of them cared little about the issue in and of itself, too) tends to indicate that it is a losing position. There are better things to worry about. And if the men in black helicopters come for you, you’re going to need something more potent than a .40 S&W Beretta or H&K pistol to resist tyranny or whatever the current fantasy is. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/36 "2009-06-21T16:10:05Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > And if the men in black helicopters come for you… If I ever win the lottery, I’m going to buy a helicopter and paint it black. (Probably with red registration numbers.) ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/37 "2009-06-21T16:17:39Z")
Still can’t find .38 Special ammo here in central FL. What little there is has been marked up obscenely. ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/38 "2009-06-21T16:18:28Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I see the miscommunication here. She wasn’t talking about when they come around to get people’s guns, she was talking about when they come around to get _people_. > > In other words, she wants an unregistered gun so that she doesn’t have to give it up when they take everyone’s guns, _so that she can defend herself against the gov’t if it decides to act against her._ So I pointed out that if the gov’t wants to come get her, it doesn’t matter if she’s got a gun or not. They have tanks. If they’re going to come get her, they’re going to come get her, gun or not, registered or not. > > Does that clear it up for you? The Soviets had tanks in Afghanistan. Clearly, if they have tanks they can’t lose, eh? We have tanks in Iraq. But what you’re not understanding is that at some point, the soldiers have to get out of the tanks. The other option is to stay in the tank and just blast the shit out of everyone, which I think would be unlikely to happen. I can imagine some commander giving the order to kill everyone on sight. I carry firearms (ex-cop) and I have no trouble getting ammo. Then again, I still get to shop at the law enforcement only shops around here, so not only do I get whatever ammunition I want, but I also get it for quite cheap. I’m not sure that I’d shop at a Wal\*mart for ammunition anyway; oh, the stigma. =P And it’s completely legal to own completely automatic firearms. Like anything else, all one needs is the appropriate licenses. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385/39 "2009-06-21T18:42:46Z")
This is not a gun debate or a “will firearms really be effective if we needed to fight the government?” thread. Could you open a separate thread or maybe revive one of the 9,000 previous threads about that if that’s what you want to discuss? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-gun-buying-panic-subsiding/500385.md?page=1)