Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Gun rights victory may spell defeat for sales; "Freedom isn't free, and ammunition is fucking expensive"

John Jannarone, Wall Street Journal:

The more important impact of the [Supreme Court] ruling may be its signal that gun controls are unlikely to tighten anytime soon. And, surprisingly, that could have a cooling effect on firearm sales.

After all, it was the opposite concern -- a fear that President Obama would clamp down on firearms -- that many argue helped drive a recent surge in U.S. gun sales.

Take Sturm, Ruger, for example. In the entire decade preceding President Obama's election, its annual firearm sales posted no growth, holding at an average of $145 million. That jumped to $174 million in 2008 and accelerated even further to $267 million in 2009.

Granted, some of the sales spike across the industry in recent years may also have been linked to the deep recession and fear of higher crime rates. But with concerns over economic crisis and a gun clampdown now receding in the public mind, firearm sales look ripe for a fall.

What? Is nobody in the mood to celebrate their 2nd Amendment rights? Buy a gun, man! It's the only commodity that safeguards our liberty as Americans. Don't tell me you can't afford to buy one "right now." When it comes to precious freedom, how can you afford not to?

6 comments:

DPirate said...

Sarcastic, yet true.

Cüneyt said...

Guns just aren't as satisfying as the hype makes out. And when every other product caters to an impotent male fantasy, how do guns compete with misogynistic Dockers or cars or other compensators?

Anonymous said...

"with concerns over economic crisis...now receding in the public mind"

apparently the dow hasn't gotten that memo.

Anonymous said...

cuneyt, like everything else, if it's not satisfying, it needs to be bigger.

Cüneyt said...

Sounds like political philosophy to me.

DPirate said...

If you are purchasing a firearm in order to "satisfy" yourself on some psychological level, other than perhaps fear for your safety, then it is just another case of consumerism. I didn't get this in reading the post. I think ladypoverty was saying that practical aspects of guns aren't any safety measure vs tyranny or whathaveyou?

To which I have to agree, overall. Yet I do admire the idea that states 'give me liberty or give me death'. There is something to be said for resistance of this nature, futile as it may be, given some certain situation.

That said, some man's handgun is never going to address any systemic failures or injustices, and likely only compound them.