Found this little gem this morning. It's an article by the AP (allegedly)...:
"US Ammo Makers Scramble to Keep Up With Gun Demand
METAIRIE, La. (AP) - Some bullet-makers are working around the clock and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.
Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such a demand.
Bullets for sportsmen have been scarce for months. Some gun store owners and gun rights advocates say the demand is due to a fear that President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation.
The Obama administration has not proposed anything specific and the president recently signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.
The National Rifle Association says Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammo a year. That figure has jumped to about 9 billion in the past year."
A) Whatever happened to citing your sources?
B) Can a sister get some figures? Preferably linked to legitimate sources? (See A)
C) Since when is the AP an op-ed source? Let's look at this statement, for example: "Some gun store owners and gun rights advocates say the demand is due to a fear that President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation"
Alright AP (if that's even your real name), you have the right to makeup or exclude any relevant facts you want. Your right to improv the news is constitutionally protected. That's fine. And I have the right to blog about your "news" and point out what you are ignoring.
First of all, what about the economic downturn? You don't think that has had anything to do with the rise in arms sales? I certainly do. And so does writer Willam Spain, who wrote a more thorough article on the subject (http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090921-703882.html). He writes "'It really began in the middle of October last year," said Lawrence Keane, vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. 'Sales have been up in double-digits in every month since, except July, which is seasonally slow anyway."
Hmm....what was going on in October of last year...oh yeah! That's right! The bailout plan was passed! That one that started out as 3 pages and ended up 400 pages! The one that had minimal public support! That one! Passed on October 1st! And the DOW hit a five year low, dropping below 8600!And the BUSH administration bought equity in our private banks, making them, at least partially, government owned, nationalized banks! A rather unpopular move, or at least a move that was met with much skepticism by the American public . AND on October 10th, 2008, the DOW opened and immediately dropped to 7900, the lowest it had been since March of 2003.
That was just the first 10 days. October 2008 was bit of a scary month in the US. And that was when the rise in weapons & ammunition sales started their meteoric rise. Worth noting, I think.
Says William Spain, "'You typically see a spike in gun sales during tough economic times, but the fears of Obama took it to another level,' he said. 'But I think it will start tapering off after this quarter and return to single-digit growth for the consumer business.'"
I'm certainly not arguing that President Obama's election, having a democratic majority in the congress, and having heard political talk about limiting the production and sales of semiautomatic guns (which was never anything more than talk in the end) didn't have a HUGE effect on the record gun & ammo sales that our original article is all about. I've no question they did.
I just felt like this article was a little misleading and that it was missing a few things...or a lot of things.
Happy hunting!
