Surprise winner of Obama stimulus spending: gun industry

[friendly_iconoclast]

From the Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0911/p02s15-usgn.html

Surprise winner of Obama stimulus spending: gun industry

Police departments are using some of the stimulus money to arm up, helping to make Obama 'gun salesman of the century.'

By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Atlanta
Many gun-loving Americans are convinved that President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are bent on ripping rifles from their "cold, dead hands," as actor Charlton Heston once declared at a National Rifle Association meeting.

But from the perspective of police departments – not to mention gunmakers – the Obama administration may go down as one of the most gun-friendly in history. Across America, police departments are using the taxpayer-funded stimulus bill to boost their arsenals with shotguns, handguns, and assault rifles.

Among the general public, a record 1 million guns were sold across the United States in August alone, rebuffing expectations that, after 10 months, the post-Obama election gun-buying spree would abate. US gunmaker Smith & Wesson on Wednesday reported a 30 percent rise in sales in the first quarter, leading to unexpected profits and a rising stock price.

But as police departments order new firearms using stimulus funds, there's more than a little irony in the fact that a president whom the gun industry looked upon with suspicion has put forward a federal program from which gunmakers are benefiting....

[friendly_iconoclast]

1. Hmm, seems like someone doesn't dig what the CSM had to say....

...or what the stimulus program is doing. Or both.

[msongs]

2. lol sales are way up amongst the fear of a black president crowd...WAY up amongst racists nt

[virginia mountainman]

3. Than how do you explain us?? NT

[spin]

7. The driving factor was a liberal Democrat as President...

plus control of the House and the Senate by Democrats. The liberal faction of the Democratic Party is anti-gun. The Republican Party has chosen to support gun owners and is able to use quotes from Democrat politicians to get voters to the polls.

John McCain was the wrong man for the Republican Party to run for President (in many ways). He didn't cause any great enthusiasm in the Republican base and definitely didn't get many younger voters to vote Republican. There was NO Republican who could have overcome the Obama phenomenon.

McCain got the support of many gun owners who feared Obama, but eight years of Bush the Junior had pissed off a lot of people including many in the Republican base and the majority of the independents. Sarah Palin fired up the base but failed to attract Democrats or independents.

After the election, Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton made comments that scared gun owners into believing the Democrats would eventually impose draconian gun laws. Hillary seemed to indicate that we would have to restrict the sale of assault weapons to the citizens of our country because the weapons were finding their way south of the border to Mexico and being used by drug gangs to terrorize the citizens and fight the police and the army.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now the second member of President Obama's cabinet to get shot down by the White House over the politically sensitive issue of assault weapons. After meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Clinton said that reinstating the U.S. ban on assault weapons—which was passed in 1994 and expired in 2004—is one step this country could take to curb the flow of guns to Mexico's drug cartels. "These military-style weapons don't belong on anybody's street," Clinton told NBC. Within hours, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that he was unaware of "any plans" to push for such a ban—even though Obama had backed one during last year's campaign.

Attorney General Eric Holder had a similar experience a few weeks earlier. After he endorsed a ban at a Feb. 25 press conference, Justice officials were instructed by White House aides to drop the issue, according to administration and congressional aides who asked not to be named due to political sensitivities. What's behind the shift? A budding relationship between the gun lobby and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill. After Holder mentioned the ban, the National Rifle Association sent out action alerts to its members and bombarded Hill offices with calls. Sixty-five House Dems dashed off a letter to Holder opposing such a ban, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi—echoing the NRA's mantra on all gun-control issues—said she backed "enforcing the laws we have now."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191414

So the NRA_ILA and the conservative talk show hosts can scare the hell out of many gun owners using quotes from Obama, Hillary Clinton, Holder and other very liberal Democrats. Fearing a ban on assault weapons some gun owners run out and buy one or more firearms. Fearing a shortage of ammo they buy large quantities of any common brand of ammo. The more sensible gun owners decide to buy any weapons they might have been interested in--just in case. The regular shooters who shoot 150 to 500 rounds a week buy ammo when they can find it. Everyone stocks up on ammo.

The sad part is that the gun owners don't realize that pushing draconian gun laws through Congress and to the President's desk is almost impossible. Far too many Democrats in the Congress support gun rights or would oppose extremely resistive laws.

The craze on buying guns and ammo resembles the toilet paper shortage of 1973.

Well, whether you believe it or not, there was a toilet paper shortage in the United States in 1973. The entire episode started with a Johnny Carson Tonight Show monologue. On December 19, 1973, the writers for the show had heard earlier the federal government was falling behind in getting bids to supply toilet paper and that it might be possible that in a few months the United States could face a shortage of toilet tissue. They took the words of this Wisconsin congressional representative, Harold Froehlich and decided to add a joke for Carson for the evening show.

Carson did in fact use the joke in a monologue stating, "You know what's disappearing from the supermarket shelves? Toilet paper. There's an acute shortage of toilet paper in the United States."

Much to the amazement of not only the show but of toilet paper factories across America, 20 million people that watched the Carson show that evening ran out in the morning and bought as much toilet paper as they could carry. By noon on December 20, 1973, practically every store in America was out of stock. Many of the stores tried to ration this
valuable paper but they could not keep up with the demand no matter what they did.
http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/trivia74.html

I do agree that the racist have decided to buy firearms. However the firearm craze is not limited to racists

[tabatha]

4. And they probably would not understand it.

[onehandle]

5. Fear of a black President is fueling his economy by those who fear him.

Perfect.

[Ian David]

6. Sorry. I hit Unrec by accident. Meant to hit Rec. n/t