Washington Post goes to National Gun Show
The Washington Post went to the National Gun Show in Chantilly, VA yesterday, and they seem amazed that people went there to buy…wait for it…GUNS!
With an AK-47 slung over one shoulder, Marco Hernandez offered one word when asked why he was in the overflow crowd at the gun show, billed as the largest east of the Mississippi.
“Obama,” he said, standing in front of the Expo Center. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the possible gun ban.”
Like others, the 29-year-old Wheaton resident was in the market for an accessory some lawmakers and anti-gun advocates want to restrict: a high-capacity magazine.
I’m shocked that when the government is planning to stop the sales of a currently legal item, that people would suddenly feel a need to have that item. Of course, many are buying the weapons because they know it’s a fairly good investment. If the government bans the manufacture of more AR-15s, the ones which are already out here become worth more. It’s simple economics. I bought my M4 for about $700 last Spring. I challenge you to find one for that price now. High capacity magazines that sold for $10-15 two weeks ago are going for $60 today, if you can find them. I saw Cheaper Than Dirt was selling a 100-round magazine for ARs for $100 two weeks ago and then last Monday it was $287, today they are out of stock. A hundred-round drum which sold for about $100 two weeks ago is $600 today.
From the Post;
Gun dealers requested nearly 5,150 background checks on purchasers in Virginia eight days after the Dec. 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn. — the largest number ever in a single day, Virginia State Police said. And in the days since, the daily number of background checks has regularly doubled corresponding totals from the previous year.
It’s simple economics. Like I told Old Trooper on the phone yesterday, we’re going to have the heaviest armed civilian population ever thanks to Obama.
But if you really want to read some moonbattery, check out the comments to the Washington Post article. Apparently, we’re just buying these weapons so we can sell them to criminals. Either that or we’re going to start defending ourselves against black helicopters. All at the bidding of our masters at the NRA.
If you look at the demographic of who is attending and buying these weapons of mass destruction, you will see it is WHITE MEN… sound familiar? The same demographic of the GOP. Seriously. How ridiculous! Stay afraid, be afraid, stay afraid is an OLD worn out rant. Bushmaster and other semi-automatics were NOT what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the 2nd Amendment. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
I was in the Army so I know all about weapons. That’s why I oppose ownership of sem-auto rifles and support much better background checks and mental evaluations. The current background check, NCIC, is a joke. I’m surprised they even bother with it. Illegal aliens, restraining orders, etc., that all slips thru. I also find that many of the pro gun people are nutty as hell. They go to the range once a year and almost kill themselves. They think they will stop an intruder and they end up shooting one of their kids going into the fridge at 2 am.
How many gun crimes will be committed from what was sold at this show? How many more children will die? When will the United States learn that more guns does not equal less gun crime?
Baseless supposition – but that’s how liberals keep the ignorant on the reservation.
Category: Guns
I was in the Army so I know all about weapons.
Oh look; we have a potential entry for next year’s contest.
storm’s comin’
What happen to NO PICTURES inside the gun show? All gun shows in Oklahoma require special permission to take any kind of pictures. Joe
@1: Yeah, I went a couple rounds with a chucklehead at the LA Times story, yesterday, when he claimed that he was in the Army, but then used every anti-gun leftist argument in his comments. I told him being in a cadre of COD players doesn’t count for being in the Army. As for the rest of his screed; he, obviously, hasn’t been around gun owners that much in civilian life.
The Washington Post Comments section is a cesspool on a good day. It has taken on the tone of the paper quite well.
I had an interesting exchange with some dufus purporting to be a Vietnam vet. An anti-gun Vietnam vet at that. He made statements along the lines of “we were only issued 20 round clips,” then said “I could hold 3 or 4 grenades in the pockets of my tunic,” and finished up with “my favorite gun was the M-79.”
I asked him to describe the difference between a clip and a magazine, and of course was greeted with the sound of crickets chirping.
What they don’t get is this:
“You’re entitled to your own opinion. You’re not entitled to your own facts.”
This season, I believe that this quote is appropriate:
“They are Man’s and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.” –Charles Dickens
Yes, being a National Guard postal clerk gives you all the familiarzation you need to be a weapons expert. As well all know, you don’t actually have to pass boot camp or even have served to say you were in the military though, right? 😉 LOL!
I also adore how these people are so sure that the Founding Fathers would have been afraid of the kind of weapons we had today. Given that they were fighting for their lives, I think they would have jumped at the chance to own some long range blam to use against the British.
“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who would attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government”.
George Washington
Noted in the Cols Dispatch:
More than 450 teachers and other school employees from across Ohio have applied for 24 spots in a free firearms-training program being offered by the Buckeye Firearms Association.
Guess we will have to make some increases in slots.
I get yelled at by people for making them tell me the difference between a mag and a clip. Nevermind that I actually own a few magazines and two clips for the Mosin.
Then again, the coworkers get mad at me for asking why they don’t think a bolt action is less dangerous before linking them to Simo Hayha. I get yelled at for antagonizing the hypochondriacs by pointing out all of our office’s vectors and which people in the office are the most likely reservoirs..
It’s been said before, but I think they’re just afraid due to a lack of contact. It digs it’s way in and buries deep and until they’re somehow shown otherwise, it’s a dead end.
I was encouraged the previous week when a Union Carpenter came in to office to do some work and he was wearing the shirt with the Thomas Jefferson quote.
Not all are drinking the cool aid.
” Bushmaster and other semi-automatics were NOT what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the 2nd Amendment.” sez one comment in the article.
The Second Amendment specifies “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State…”
Seems to me that Bushmasters and other semi-auto high-capacity weapons would be exactly what the founding fathers would want citizens to own in today’s world. If the militia is to provide security to the state, they ain’t gonna do it with a 5 shot Marlin .22 or a replica lever-action rifle (no disrespect to fans of lever action repeaters or .22’s!!)
George V.
“‘Bushmaster and other semi-automatics were NOT what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the 2nd Amendment,’ sez one comment in the article.”
The best counter to that is to say that they didn’t have a telehone, pc, or Kindle in mind when they wrote the 1st amendment either. Lefties like to see that as an admission that the Constitution is a living, breathing document. It is no such thing. That there is a telephone or pc today does not change anything about the 1st amendment. Similarly, that there are weapons today available that were not available 200+ years ago does not change anything about the 2nd amendment.
No code pinkos at the show today, and the line to get in was tolerable, although the place was still crowded. Most interest seemed to be at the handgun tables and a ammo seller. There were some 30 round magazines available at $25-30 each.
The “soldier” quoted doesn’t know anything about background checks, either. It’s NICS, not NCIC, that does the background checks.
And, illegals and restraining orders don’t “slip through”.
But, it’s the mantra of the left, so, whatever they say just has to be so.