Last fall, I wrote about a surprising trend: Gun sales have skyrocketed since Barack Obama became President. During that time, the stock of gunmaker Sturm Ruger has outperformed gold. Analysts aren\u2019t quite sure what\u2019s causing the trend. Many anticipated a boost in sales after Obama\u2019s election from gun owners fearful that he might outlaw assault weapons\u2014the so-called \u201cfear trade.\u201d But they expected a brief spike, no more. Instead, gun sales kept rising and have continued to rise even since last fall. Ruger, which was up 400 percent at the time, is now up more than 500 percent. <\/p>\n
Despite the fact that Obama hasn\u2019t made the slightest feint toward regulating guns, firearms enthusiasts have whipped themselves into a paranoid frenzy, convinced that this is all just part of some elaborate conspiracy. Don\u2019t believe me? Here\u2019s how Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association, put it to the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) two weeks ago. \u201cLip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term,\u201d he said. \u201cWe see the President\u2019s strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and\u2014with no more elections to worry about\u2014get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms freedom, erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights, and excise it from the U.S. Constitution \u2026 When the sun goes down on election day, Barack Obama will have America\u2019s gun owners to thank for his defeat.\u201d <\/p>\n
Note the twist: It\u2019s no longer Obama\u2019s election that poses a mortal danger to the liberty of Americans who want to assemble arsenals\u2014it\u2019s Obama\u2019s re-election. I\u2019m no financial analyst, but you\u2019d have to imagine that that line of reasoning isn\u2019t going to do anything to depress gun sales. <\/p>\n
One thing I hadn\u2019t appreciated when I wrote my original piece was the breadth of the trend; it\u2019s not just gun sales, but ammunition. All those new firearms have brought the government a lot of revenue in the form of federal excise taxes. The website Ammo.net (what, you don\u2019t have it bookmarked?) has an eye-popping graphic on just why Obama is, as they put it, the \u201cgreatest gun salesman in America.\u201d <\/p>\n
Green is senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek in Washington. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Originally posted here: By Joshua Green Last fall, I wrote about a surprising trend: Gun sales have skyrocketed since Barack Obama became President. During that time, the stock of gunmaker Sturm Ruger has outperformed gold. Analysts aren\u2019t quite sure what\u2019s causing the trend. Continue reading
\nBarack Obama, "Greatest Gun Salesman in America"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"