President Obama wants to put gun dealers out of business. When he was a state senator in Illinois, he supported a ban on the sale of handguns and all semi-automatic guns as well as a ban on selling guns within five miles of a school or a park. While the president obviously can’t just ban them, he can use regulations to make their lives more difficult. For some dealers it may be a slow death of a thousand regulatory cuts ...The increasing "cost of doing business" for firearms retailers has caused a lot of problems in 'the business' for the past several years.
In my small town, I've seen the number of firearms dealers go from three, to one, to none in the past 15 years. It's not just Obama'; it's the increasingly more critical climate of firearms ownership.
Which has been championed by (you saw this coming, didn't you?) The Democratic Party.
Never was there a party with less joy (except for the hosts) in this College Town.
This is a Democratic State. Every elected official, from the Mayor through the County Commissioners to the Senators and the Governor are Democrats. And they're all just fine with the current trend.
There use to be a republican here and there, but ... no, I don't want to talk about it.
It's too painful, and I don't want to frighten the children.
The electorate is quite happy with the current state of political influence. Well, we have three or four main population centers, and these 'big cities' have a lot of people on Welfare and other versions of the Political Dole, so one might say that the party has bought the electorate.
Not the People; just the Electorate.
Surprisingly, 90% of the people outside of the few 'big cities' .... and we're talking about people who control 90% of the land ... are more conservative.
If my poor state is any indication, then ... yes, Obama HAS the support to regulate guns out of existance.
The Hoi Polloi will not object. They will still receive their monthly stipend (provided by the small percent who actually pay taxes, bolstered by Corporations who provide the bulk of tax income to The State).
I may have exagerated; it may not be 90% who are on the dole; a significant percentage of the working populace are employed by governmental agencies (as I was for 30 years), but the labor unions have ways of dealing with malcontents.
Still ... I can find a gun dealer within an hour's drive from my home, but he only has a very limited stock. (He's something of a 'special order" shop.)
I can't find a gunsmith nearby unless I go to the jack-leg guy who isn't really professionally trained, but he can install a sight or a new barrel and probably even detail-strip a 1911 and put it back together 'right'.
Why can't I find gun guys?
I'm not blaming Obama. The truth is, the demand for firearms support industries has diminished to the point where folks would rather just do without a broken gun than try to find someone to fix it for them.
That's not universally true, but it's true enough to be significant. There isn't enough business in gun maintenance here to support anyone in a 'full time job'. New shooters are few and far between. They are out there, and I meet a lot of them teaching my "Introduction to USPSA" class. But when their guns go south (as they will), I have no evidence that they are willing to get them fixed. Nobody has asked me for a reference to a "gunsmith" for 15 years.
Whatever Obama is doing, he's good at that part, at least. I wish he was as presidential as he is obstructionist.
3 comments:
Get out of your cave Jerry. There are over 100 shooters at Albany and Dundee USPSA every Saturday. The Philomath gun shop is about 20 min from you. They are a full on gun and shooting supply shop. Whenever a new gun grab gets put forth in the legislature it is usually stopped. The democrat domination is true, but it isn't as bad as you submit. Thank God we don't live in Kalifornia.
Who is buying these millions of new guns every year? The gun makers are the only growth industry in our morbid economy.
Mark, I've been to the Philomath gun shop. Overpriced and under stocked, they are. I went there seeking a .22 revolver ... what they HAD was a 50 year old revolver that you needed to remove the cylinder to reload. They wanted $200 for it, and to my shame I bought the damn thing. I've used it twice, and was disappointed both times.
"Competition" is good; there is no competition here in the gun shop business.
If you are so convinced that the Philomath Gun Shop is a good "full on gun and shooting supply shop" and is a viable vendor, I will happily re-sell you my .22 revolver for exactly what I paid for it.
It's a classic; I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I have.
And it will help me get out of my 'cave'.
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