The Story That Will Not Go Away

I received a phone call yesterday from the local ABC affiliate (WRIC TV8) asking me for reaction to the Obama election victory and what it means for gun owners. I told the reporter my thoughts as posted here the day after the election and emailed her a copy of the VSSA alert that members received about Obama's gun control proposals found on the Official Transition web site (since taken down at some point after Saturday).

Last night, Nightline did a story on the nationwide increase in gun sales.



Not surpisingly, there is a run on firearms like AR-15s. Also not surprisingly, the reporter said the NRA had scared gun owners into believing Obama was going to take away everyone's guns. I don't think even Obama believes he can take away guns that are already in our possession and NRA has never said Obama was going to come into our homes and take them. But, he can make it harder for us to buy firearms and that is exactly what he plans to do. He also is planning to take away the privacy of gun owners by ending protections of the Tiahrt Amendment - the appropriations rider that requires the distruction of gun sales records after 60 days.

Gun owners, we are in for a rough four years.

Update: A gun shop owner in Arizona tells Reuters this and it reflects my thoughts on this topic:

I'd rather that (Republican Sen. John) McCain got in and there's not a big scare and we just followed our normal sales, rather than say right now we are going to make a lot of money for a few months, and then in a few months, possibly, our business could be shut down.