Enthusiasts spur sales of firearms
Many buyers worry limits, higher taxes might be placed on arms, ammunition
Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier
During the first hour of the Land of the Sky Gun and Knife Show at the Exchange Park in Ladson on Saturday, 1,000 people came through the doors, two or three times as many in the same amount of time last year, organizers said.
LADSON — Barack Obama apparently is the best salesman the gun industry has had in years.
At gun shows and shops here and across the country, people are loading up on assault rifles, hand guns and ammo. "It's the first gun show we've had since the election, and we had a thousand people come through our first hour," said Mike Kent, owner of the Land of the Sky Gun and Knife Show. "That's about double or triple what we did the same time last year."
As people lined up at the fairgrounds to get into the show Saturday, Kent said many gun enthusiasts fear the Obama administration will curtail their right to buy arms or raise taxes on ammunition.
"Every time the Democrats do well in an election, gun sales surge," said Kent, adding that he's been in the business about 20 years and remembers a similar gun rush in 1994 when Congress passed a 10-year ban on about 20 specific assault rifles. The ban expired in 2004.
Gun sales also may have gotten a boost from South Carolina lawmakers.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a law giving gun buyers a tax break on firearms the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. South Carolina is the only state to hold such a tax holiday for guns.
But some shoppers and dealers Saturday said the tax break was secondary to their concerns about what might happen with a Democratic majority in Congress and an Obama administration.
"I was going to buy a gun no matter who got elected president," said Lovell Wittig, who picked up a .380-caliber handgun for $275. But he said he was concerned that lawmakers could tighten gun laws, causing prices of guns and ammunition to spike. "If the prices go up too much, a lot of people won't be able to afford to shoot."
Jason Garner, an employee at ATP Gun Shop & Range near Summerville, said he sold 10 guns in the first 10 minutes the store was open Friday. "And we probably sold 125 guns in the first two hours."
Bill Hayes, an instructor at ATP, said assault rifles with price tags ranging from $600 to $2,500 have been big sellers. "The manufacturer hasn't been able to keep up making the AR-15 (a semiautomatic rifle based on the military's M-16)."
He's also seeing a big increase in people taking classes or using the shooting range. "There were 20 people on the waiting list to get in the other day."
Some customers Saturday at the gun show wondered privately whether gun dealers were stoking fears about an Obama presidency to boost sales and create a false sense of scarcity. During the presidential campaign, gun-control advocates accused the National Rifle Association of using fear tactics to affect the election, which the NRA denied.
Obama's campaign Web site said he "respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms" and promised to "protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns."
But many gun dealers and buyers Saturday said they didn't want to take any chances with the next administration. Meanwhile, some said they went to the show because it was better than spending a rainy day at the mall. Cy Whitfield, a Charleston custom furniture maker, said he isn't planning to buy any more rifles. "I came because the gun show is here," he said after buying ammunition. "I don't think the election is going to affect me."
Reach Tony Bartelme at 937-5554 or tbartelme@postand courier.com.
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Comments
This article has 16 comment(s)
Posted by SimplyMad on November 30, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Change is coming.
"The entire campaign of Barack Hussein Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, consisted of one word: change. Now that he is soon to be the President of the United States, we will see the true horrors of change. The simple word change has no guarantee of good contained in the six letters that make up the word. At face value it simply means: give me anything other than what I now have. A study of history will quickly reveal that Adolf Hitler and others of his ilk who were first elected to office and shortly after became dictators were also first elected to office on a campaign of one word and that word was change.
On the day of his inauguration, Barack Hussein Obama must stand and say the following words: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." (10) But what is an oath to such a charlatan traitor, who in a speech clearly stated the following: "The Constitution is a fundamental flaw and blind spot….."
http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/200...
Posted by chucktonian on November 30, 2008 at 10:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
no one should be surprised at the increased gun sales. it's just "bitter people clinging to their guns and religion" as one famous Dumbocrat said
Posted by onesidedsquare on November 30, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
oh change has come? I didn't realize that the R in your toys r us had been fixed, and that lions want to live off tofu
Posted by americanheretic on November 30, 2008 at 12:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This must be South Carolina's think tank! Sad bunch of little boys.
Posted by yird on November 30, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Posted by americanheretic on November 30, 2008 at 12:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This must be South Carolina's think tank!
==============================================================
It is, and you'd probably be better off if you excused yourself.
Guns are not for children so nothing in this thread is of any concern of yours.
Posted by postman01 on November 30, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yird makes one of his usual, succinct, and to the point posts.
Everything we know is telling us that Obama is going to be a very different kind of President than many conservatives/libertarians expected. I opposed him. Yet his actual behavior since the election indicates he is a PRAGMATIST, not an ideologue. I'm no supporter but I do have the sense to observe the man's ACTUAL BEHAVIOR, realize that he is going to be my President, and give him a chance to make the uphill climb he must make to chahge my mind. I support gun rights 100%, by the way. I wish these people demonstrated the intelligence and formal knowledge they should possess, which is that they will have plenty of warning should this actually be a problem and that a PROCESS is required involving legislation, the President's signature, and any such legislation surviving judicial review in a court system where the Supreme Court just affirmed that individuals have the right to wnn guns. What bothers me is that the stupidity and ignorance demonstrated by this unwarranted panic makes gun rights supporters who happen to be highly intelligent and well-educated look stupid. I don't like being made to look stupid by total strangers who should have paid attention in class when they were in school and in college.
Posted by Tulane75 on November 30, 2008 at 11:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Postman delivers his point quite nicely. One of the problems seems to be the relative ease with which posters bait others with stupid comments. It doesn't matter from which side of the spectrum come the dumb remarks. Pretty soon, there are posts that demean their writers in response to similarly stupid posts from the opposite perspective.
One other thing I was wondering concerns the "need" for this tax break in the face of overwhelming demand. In other words, it sounds from the above post that, tax break or not, those guns would have been purchased. Therefore, what state benefit was achieved by the tax holiday? I understand that there may be a political benefit, so I guess that's what it was.
For the record, I believe in the 2nd Amendment, as well as the right to Due Process, freedom from unreasonable searches, the right to counsel, etc.
Posted by spengler on December 1, 2008 at 6:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I would temper the shootists' 'enthusiasm' by realizing there have been many attempts by statists to restrict ownership, add burdomesome taxes to ammunition, and extra-legal efforts by the BATF to undermine the 2nd Amendment. Many of these arms and ammo are no doubt on their way to safe caches in case they are needed later to restore Constitutional government. The still-unknown status of Obama's citizenship and the doomed efforts by a corrupt Congress to 'fix' the Economy may lead to a breakdown of Law and Order. The Citizens will need firepower to oust the illegal government and restore Constitutional Law.
Posted by DanniD on December 1, 2008 at 6:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Do people really need a semi-automatic weapon??
Posted by Tulane75 on December 1, 2008 at 7:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So spengler the patriot is promoting armed revolution?
Have you picked out the groups you wish to collect during your uprising? Have you chosen the train stations to be used for transport? Technically, it will be difficult to deport your selected groups by train since the U.S. is so big.
Perhaps you can share more of your ideas!
Posted by islandbenzbc on December 1, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I suspect that the "change" that most of the people who voted for Obama want is not what they are about to get...
Posted by Tycer on December 1, 2008 at 9:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Quote "Do people really need a semi-automatic weapon??"
It's not a matter of need. Does anyone "need" a 42" TV? Need is not the issue, the issue is their right to own it.
BTW, Teddy Roosevelt hunted with a semi-automatic rifle. He felt the need.
Posted by Tycer on December 1, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Quote: "....a PROCESS is required involving legislation, the President's signature, and any such legislation surviving....."
There are many ways a president can impose gun rights restrictions without legislation. He can have the IRS, BATFE, EPA, Commerce Dept, Treasury Dept, Secretary of State and numerous others raise taxes and fees, ban importation of parts and ammunition, and otherwise make the sale, repair, or enjoyment of arms illegal or price exclusive. These items would not make judicial review and never even make it to the SCOTUS.
Even with legislation it can be done. The ban on lead ammunition in CA is a great example. That legislation was passed on poor scientific process - the study that said it kills the Condors was done on 18 birds.
Posted by Tycer on December 1, 2008 at 10:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The Obama website www.change.gov gives four ways they plan to attack the rights of 80 million gun owners.
I address them thusly:
First:
The Tiahrt amendment only keeps sensitive firearms trace data (which is the sales history of a gun) from the general public. It has NEVER kept ANY data from law enforcement agencies. This is why Congress, the ATF, and law enforcement, including the nation's largest police organization, the Fraternal Order of Police, agree on the importance of securing this data.
Michael J. Sullivan, who is acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Department of Justice, has written that neither the congressional language nor ATF rules prohibit the sharing of trace data with law enforcement conducting criminal investigations, or place any restrictions on the sharing of trace data with other jurisdictions once it is in the hands of state or local law enforcement. He also wrote that the ATF considers this information law-enforcement-sensitive because it is often the first investigative lead in a case. “We treat it no differently than fingerprint matches and other crime-scene information, since disclosure outside of law enforcement can tip off criminals to the investigation, compromise cases and endanger the lives of undercover officers, witnesses and confidential sources.”
Second:
"Assault Weapons" as defined by the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban are not machine guns. They are commonplace firearms that fire only one round at a time and use the same caliber and type of ammunition as the non-banned firearms. The difference between your great-grandfather's self loading hunting rifle and an "assault weapon" is not mechanical, it is only cosmetic. Substituting an ugly plastic stock for that pretty American Walnut one doth not make the rifle evil, just ugly
Third:
In order to close the “loophole” in the Brady Bill, all private
transactions must be registered. There has never been a federal gun registration in the USA. Great Britain created one and has sucessfully used it to confiscate guns. Great Britains violent crime rates have risen since then to where citizens have a 25% chance of being a victim of violent crime. We in the USA don’t even make the top ten in industrialized countries in regards to violent crime.
Fourth:
Childproofing entails redesigning products and retooling of facilities that already have a low profit margin. Good business sense would dictate cessation of production for the civilian market for those items. Law enforcement and military would not be required to be childproof. Only criminals and our government would have the opportunity to buy guns, essentially removing the right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
Posted by SCPDBLUE on December 1, 2008 at 9:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
way to go Tycer,I hear you loud and clear. Comrade Obama will come as a thief in the night,but he will take alittle at a time until he has total control. Another charismatic speaker said on April 15th, 1935 "This year will go down in history! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" his name was Adolf Hitler.My anti-gun friends go to YOU TUBE Type in Criminals For Gun Control.Would you like this guy kicking in your door while you watched TV with your family? Thats right maybe you can call the police or maybe not,OH you have an alarm,thats good LE reaction time 5 to 10 minutes.by then the damage has been done and what will the police say to the media.The choice is yours defend your home and family or be another victim..
Posted by jammer007 on December 1, 2008 at 10:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Obama sucks !!!!!!!!!