Obama the Gun Salesman
Ammo.net declares that nothing seems to make Americans want to own a gun more than President Obama, who is reputed to hold, but never really acts on, anti-gun attitudes.
They've produced a gigantic infographic on the topic, visible here.
Some of the high points, as per an email press release from Ammo.net:
Starting in 2008 with the primary battle between then-Senators Clinton & Obama for the Democratic Party's nomination, the firearm industry has experienced an unprecedented boom. Despite the lackluster economy, numbers such as the ones below when visually illustrated like this show an industry which continues to experience record (and under-reported!) growth, thanks primarily to "the Obama effect":
- Ruger's firearm sales have gone from $117 million to $232 million, an increase of 98%
- Winchester's sales of ammunition have gone from $431.7 million to $572 million, an increase of 33%
- Federal excise taxes collected on the sale of new firearms and ammunition has risen 48.3%
- January 2012 was the 20th straight month of increases in NICS background checks compared to the same month in the previous year
- December 2011 saw over 1.41 million NICS background checks run, the most ever for a single month
- The few states which regularly report concealed carry permit numbers have seen increases in active permit holders ranging from 46% to 161%.
Their graphic got play in USA Today and Businessweek.
I predicted a lack of strong anti-gun action from Obama back in January 2009, and wrote a book about the Heller revolution in Second Amendment law, Gun Control on Trial, back in 2008.
Greg Beato will have a column on the unexpected mini-industrial resurgence in gun and gun related manufacturing in the U.S. in the forthcoming May issue of Reason magazine. Subscribe today!
