Independent UK: Guns still control the ballot box in the age of Obama

[marmar]

Rupert Cornwell: Guns still control the ballot box in the age of Obama
Out of America: Why, with the Democrats in charge, are the firearm laws more lax, ownership increasing, and ammo sales rocketing?

Sunday, 14 June 2009


These are baffling times on the front lines of America's great culture wars. Half a dozen states have now approved gay marriage, the very mention of which is anathema to social conservatives. In contrast, another great cause of conservatives – to make abortion illegal – seems to be making headway. In May, Gallup found that more Americans considered themselves pro-life than pro-choice, the first time this has happened since the polling organisation began asking the question in 1995. But on the third major battlefield, there is no doubt. More than ever, guns are in.

Why that is so is a matter of debate. Some blame today's hard economic times. Recession and unemployment breed more violent crime, it is said, and people are taking their own precautions. Others suggest the election of Barack Obama prompted a surge in gun purchases, due to fears that a new president, long demonised by the right as an urban anti-gun liberal, would seek to ban entire categories of weapons, or at least curb imports and impose higher taxes on both guns and ammunition. Such worries were a curious misreading of a candidate who, during the campaign, promised to take a common-sense, non-confrontational approach to the issue. But the figures speak for themselves.

Since Obama was elected in November, gun sales have risen sharply. In April, according to the FBI, almost 1,226,000 people underwent the required background tests for gun owners, a 30 per cent jump in a single year. There are also severe ammunition shortages, reportedly due to stockpiling by gun enthusiasts. Some kinds of bullets, .38 and .357 in particular, are said to be virtually unobtainable in stores. For manufacturers though, it's a case of recession, what recession? "We are breaking our own production records in an attempt to keep up with customer demand," Hornady Manufacturing, a leading US ammunition maker, says on its website, but warns that despite its efforts, the company can no longer meet individual orders.

Some things, of course, never change. As usual, gun crimes are in the headlines, this time after the fatal shooting last week by the 88-year-old white supremacist James von Brunn of a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. But after initial outrage, the reaction has, as always, been one of weary acceptance. Even the slaughter of 32 people by a deranged student at Virginia Tech University a couple of years ago – the worst such massacre in US history – failed to generate real pressure for stricter gun laws. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-guns-still-control-the-ballot-box-in--the-age-of-obama-1704667.html

[krispos42]

1. Probably because this is why

Funny how they never mention that their homicide rate had doubled over the last 25 years or so.

[IDFbunny]

4. Makes me proud.

[get the red out]

2. We don't look good, but who cares?

I wish looking like a bunch of red-neck, low-education fools to the rest of the world actually bothered people in this country. But it will probably be a mark of pride to many. :banghead:

[virgogal]

3. There are some very nice low education people---they aren't all fools.

What an elitist comment.

[get the red out]

5. I said "look low education" - but you don't care about meaning

There are many people that don't have much education do not act like idiots, personally I have useless education, many people do. You do understand the term "look-low education"? There are some very educated conservatives that look like they have been taught absolutely nothing.

I guess you just look for key words to scream "elitist" because you obviously missed my point completely going for your "gotcha" moment. Really useful tactic.

Our whole country tends to often look like a bunch of fools to the rest of the world, that's truth.

[Syntheto]

6. Do you have to go racist with the 'red-neck' remark?

... It gets a little old; do you have a word for Black or Asian people with low-education and intelligence? What would you call them?