Paranoia on Parade

First off, let me say I love my guns, and you can take them away from me when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.  I have way more than I need and not nearly as many as I want.  I am the resident gun nut in these parts and I make no apology for that, and often part ways with my liberal brothers and sisters when we get to the Second Amendment.

That said, I am just absolutely dumbfounded by the paranoia that has driven people to stockpile guns and ammo. I have been shaking my head and muttering "what the fuck?" over this one for a year now. No one was talking about banning guns or confiscating guns or anything else. No one was even talking about common-sense gun legislation. They should be. But they aren't, because they are all scared shitless of the NRA. So the conversation we need to be having, about how to preserve rights, strengthen law enforcement by bringing a basic framework of laws that would be uniform across all 50 states and include data-sharing across state lines - which would reduce crime and increase public safety - is not taking place. And people die every day on the streets of American cities because everyone who should be initiating it quakes in fear of the NRA.

Instead, we have a gun lobby that starts wild, unfounded rumors that quickly run riot through a certain segment of society, and a few people got really, really fat off the paranoia. Guns flew out of stores and bullets sold faster than manufacturers could make them. So many civilians were buying so many bullets that law enforcement and the military faced shortages of some critical rounds. People bought ammo for guns they didn't even own, convinced by the hype of the gun lobby, which is a dependant of manufacturers, that when they finally got their dream gun the ammo would be difficult, if not impossible, to get. Think about this: In the middle of a recession, ammo sales kept climbing, even as prices tripled for some popular rounds.

And now the same groups that fanned the flames of paranoia that sparked the stockpiling are fretting and stewing about those very stockpiles.

When Democrats are elected, sales of guns and ammo always go up. Usually the uptick is minor and driven by a desire to lay in a supply for the next couple of deer seasons, hedging ones bets that a new tax might be assessed on ammunition for whatever reason.  As a result, conservation programs, which are funded in part by a federal tax on guns and ammunition, see an uptick in receipts. The spike this time is different, and those programs are awash in cash...and as a hunter and rural land owner who fights like hell to keep north Missouri ridges covered in oak-hickory timber, this makes my soul soar.

But the emergency responder in me who lived through the 90s and the militia movement is scared shitless.  I didn't respond to OKC, we had left Wichita four months before. But a whole bunch of my friends and coworkers did, and I worry about a resurgence of domestic terrorism. I am not alone in this concern.

It was already a political truism that Democrats prompt sales of both guns and ammo. The U.S. government taxes both to support wildlife conservation, and those receipts jumped after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 and after Democrats retook Congress in 2006.

The high sales have alarmed some anti-gun groups. Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center said he worries about a revival of the anti-government militia movement of the Clinton era.

"This is a pattern that is repeating itself, and it is a pattern that has tremendous risk attached to it," Sugarmann said.

But gun-rights groups say the buyers are law-abiding, and responding to legitimate concerns.
"I think it's Katrina. I think it's terrorism. I think it's crime. And I also think that it's people worrying about [whether] they'll be attacked by politicians," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. "They're suspicious, and justifiably so."

But the most recent FBI crime statistics, from 2008, showed that rates of violent crime were the lowest since 1989. The numbers for this year have not been assembled yet, but police groups say violent crime still appears to be down, although there may have been an uptick in property crimes.

As for gun control, experts say that far from being under attack, groups opposed to it have won a remarkable string of victories. Clinton's ban on assault weapons expired in 2004. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the District's restrictions on handguns, ruling that the Second Amendment creates an individual right to gun ownership.

Under Obama, the White House has said it wants to stop the illegal flow of U.S. guns to Mexican drug cartels, and it directed Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to review the way current gun laws are being enforced.

But a spokesman said that "the president respects and supports the Second Amendment and the tradition of gun ownership in this country." In the biggest gun-related debate of his tenure, Obama sided with gun groups, signing a bill to loosen the rules on firearms in national parks.

Still, in interviews with gun owners and ammunition dealers, many said the run on bullets was sparked by worries about what Obama?might?do.

"It was just logical, based on his record as a state senator and his record in the U.S. Senate," Dave Sugg, 37, a consultant in Ashburn, said after taking target practice with a .22-caliber semi-automatic Ruger rifle at a shooting range.

Jesus - it's like the reactionary knuckleheads building backyard bomb shelters in the fifties. They are always among us, but this time instead of preparing themselves to spend some time underground, they are preparing for some real-life Red Dawn revenge fantasy. And that ought to scare everyone.  


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oia-on-parade

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