U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- While the chart is impressive, the actual numbers tell the details of gun sales. In 2001 with George W. Bush as President, gun sales were 8.9 million. In 2019 gun sales were 28.4 million.
That’s over 300% increase in gun sales. It is driven almost entirely by the fear of confiscation and guns being banned. When “W” was President, gun owners felt safe from confiscation and gun bans. Overturning the Clinton gun bans was one of the reasons Bush was elected. Had liberal gun grabbing democrats not pushed their agenda, there would be 200,000,000 fewer guns in America and 50,000,000 fewer gun owners. The net result is Donald J Trump winning the Presidency in 2016. So, THANK YOU! Gun Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee when he called for a universal ban on handguns, and with it the Presidency in 2000.
Hillary Clinton lost Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida after calling for the confiscation of AR patterned rifles in 2016, and will now never be President. Barack Obama took a pass on gun confiscation and won the Presidency twice.
The real issue is the shrinkage of the Democrat party, as moderate democrats have left their party, leaving the gun-grabbing left in charge of a once pro-second amendment party.
The sole purpose of gun control is to scare suburban women into voting for democrats. Only 9% of mass shootings use AR patterned rifles. If they were banned, not a single life would be saved. (Murders would just use a different type of gun!) The only effect of calling for a gun ban is to drive up gun sales and create new gun owners. I suppose we should thank them.
A survey of recent gun sales from local gun stores shows 80% of all new gun purchases are first-time gun buyers. Local stores sold out of shotguns, now they’re selling out of AR Variants, and handguns. Once a person buys a gun, they are far more likely to vote conservative. The fact is the call for gun bans and confiscations drive up sales. It drives people to buy a gun before it is banned or prohibited. In my home country of Ventura, California, a survey of new gun owners shows that the REAL fear that is driving panic buying was ignited by the County’s attempt to close gun shores. After all, you cannot shoot a virus. 10’s of thousand new gun owners, again thank you gun-grabbing lefties! Lastly, closing gun stores is part of the liberal playbook to end gun ownership. Look at the City of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or Los Angeles where democrats have work to drive every gun store out of business. If liberal gun-grabbers have their way in my County, gun stores will never re-open. The legal position of our County is that as long as you can buy a gun anywhere in CA, your 2A rights are not infringed. Yes, you read that correctly.
Get active, be vocal, don’t let the noisy liberal minority silence the voices of freedom. We have a republic to save.
About Don McDougall
Don McDougall is an NRA instructor and member of the Los Padres “Friends of the NRA” committee. If he’s not at the range, you will find him setting the record straight with on gun issues and gun safety on AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.