Sunday, September 28, 2008

Area Gun Sales Way Up: What Does It Mean?

Fox 59 News had a story tonight about the surge in area gun sales this year. Don's Guns, the city's largest gun seller, reports its sales are up 200% over last year. Don Davis believes the higher gun sales mean law-abiding citizens are arming themselves to protect against the growing crime problem and that's a good thing. I believe the gun sales are driven, at least in part, by people's fear of a complete economic collapse in this country. The sight of the U.S. Marines staging urban warfare simulations in our city this summer fueled concerns among many that our own government was making preparations for an inevitable meltdown. The recent flurry of activity by our government to bail out the banking industry and the unsettled stock market confirms our suspicions. If our banking system collapses and people have no access to cash or credit cards and employers can't meet their payrolls, it is not hard to imagine conditions spinning out of control in a very short period of time. I spoke to an area bank employee who says it has not been uncommon for people to come in and withdraw tens of thousands of dollars in cash and then proceed to deposit the money in their safe deposit box at the same bank. Some people are preparing for the worse.

In 1929, my great grandparents I'm told anticipated the collapse of the banking system. They kept their money in a safe in their farmhouse in rural Marshall, Illinois. On December 30, 1930, assailants broke into their home and shot to death both of my great grandparents but not before forcing my great grandfather to open his safe and turn over a sum of money and bonds thought to approximate $20,000, which was a lot of money in those days. More than 50 years later, my father would learn from a close family friend that the killers who escaped punishment were neighbors. Their parents had visited my great grandfather that very night to pay off a loan of $4,000. The family friend said the two brothers confessed the crime to him, but he kept it a secret all those years because they threatened to kill him if he told anyone. Ironically, the father of the two killers later was elected as the county treasurer. He and his wife attended our church and knew to their dying day the horrible crime their sons had committed. One of the killers himself became a murder victim a few years later in California. My father said the family always seemed to have a lot of extra money to spend. Bad economic times can make otherwise good people do some pretty horrible things.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guns sales are up because people fear Obama will get in, appoint anti-gun judges to the supreme court, and then he will magically change his mind (again) on gun ownership. That means he will support any and all laws restricting and/or banning _any_ kind of firearm. The second reason is the crime problem. Cities across this nation have pumped hundreds of millions, up to billions, into professional sports. So almost every single major city has a jail over crowding problem. I would bet most folks are buying a handgun for the sole reason they have become a victim of some small property crime. Waking up to find your mini-barn or car broken into can really put a fear upon you that the police/government can't protect you.

As far as the bailout preventing chaos...laughable. Full disclosure Gary, do you have some vested stake in this passing? Like maybe your husband/family works in the industry. There are good banks out there. They will become the leaders and the cheerleaders on CNBC don't want that. As a few cities loose, other cities will gain. Payroll can be made via these good banks, but corporations will have to switch banks. The good banks will then buy the mortgages at a fire sale, go to the current occupants, and try to work out a deal. That is the way it should be. I know if this deal passes, I am voting for rabid socialists from here on out. Obama _will_ get my vote this Nov. if so called conservatives sell me out to protect their Wall St. buddies. The only way I won't vote Obama is if home owners who did the right thing and are not in foreclosure get some sort of check, reduced mortgage rate, etc.. No way I am going to support bailout out these millionaire/billionaire hacks along with people who tried to keep up with the Jones'.

Gary R. Welsh said...

spooknp, I have no vested stake in the outcome beyond what the average American has. You obviously don't understand the impact of the consolidation of the banking industry and what that means in a situation like this. Your logic in voting for Obama over McCain amounts to biting off your nose to spite your face. The people you are worried about bailing out have already bailed, along with billions in compensation and bonuses. If you have a 401(k) plan, you might want to check out where your plan's investments are.

Anonymous said...

Your logic in voting for Obama over McCain amounts to biting off your nose to spite your face. The people you are worried about bailing out have already bailed, along with billions in compensation and bonuses. If you have a 401(k) plan, you might want to check out where your plan's investments are.

I did not mean bailing out as in having already left. I mean the family who had an income of $70K/year and live in a $190K home on an ARM. If those people get bailed out for their greed, and I don't get a dime for buying not what I wanted, but what I could afford, I am done with this country. No more charity giving, that is obviously the job of the federal government. No more wasting my money for gas taking clothing/items to Goodwill, recycling stuff, etc.. Had I known I could buy the home I wanted, and the federal government would bail me out, then I would be living in a $200K+ home right about now. This entire thing stinks. In response to your 401(k), I don't have one. This entire problem is based upon debt living. Instead of putting thousands into a 401(k), people should have been paying down their mortgages. Now that they have lost value in their 401(k), paid their mortgage company thousands in interest, they are yelling "DO SOMETHING!!" So while the smart folks like me who paid down their mortgage principle and opted out of additional retirement savings get screwed, the rich elites with packed 401(k)s and those who purchased too much home than what they could afford get bailed out. As a thank-you to those people, I will be voting those candidates who advocate more wealth redistribution. Hopefully this will lead to the eventual taxation of gains on 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, etc.. So while these folks get their bailout today, I will laugh when in 15 years, my socialist candidates are in office changing the tax code to take more of their money for my schools, sidewalks, health care, etc. The only way to get my cut of the bailout is to push socialist candidates in the future. If the so called conservative Republicans turn their backs on middle income folks like me who did everything "right," then I may as well vote for what benefits me personally over the good of the nation/world.

Mike Kole said...

Voting for either McCain or Obama, if a fiscal conservative, amounts to cutting off your nose to spite your face. Two lousy choices there.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Thanks for confirming your twisted logic, spooknp. Mike, I hope you aren't suggesting people would be better off voting for that joke Bob Barr from Georgia. If you've done any research on him, you would know what a hypocritical flake he is.

M Theory said...

If McCain were truly the 'maverick' he claims to be, he would be standing off the Fed today instead of stating he'll go along with the bailout deal.

Don't tell me McCain is not aware that the ENTIRE country doesn't want this bailout. These so-called 'representatives' in Congress are going against their constituencies who are telling to them to vote "NO BAILOUT".

Throughout this ordeal, McCain has blown his chance at presidency. He would have won if he had stood downt the Fed and Bush.

I'm not voting for either of them. BOTH are cowards and neither will do the will of the people.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for confirming your twisted logic, spooknp.

So I should stand-by and allow the government to rape me? I have been a productive citizen all my life. I have paid my "fair share" and did things the "right" way. My thanks is a bailout for everyone that did everything the wrong way. I guess I should be on bended knee giving thanks?

Vox Populi said...

I have a number of Libertarian friends, several of whom are writing in "Ron Paul" this year even though it won't count. They agree that Barr is a joke and wish Paul had jumped ship.

As far as the gun issue... I've been considering buying a handgun for a while but just haven't done it. Maybe if I see a breakdown of society happening, I will make the leap.

Anonymous said...

As far as the gun issue... I've been considering buying a handgun for a while but just haven't done it. Maybe if I see a breakdown of society happening, I will make the leap.

Just remember the old saying: A handgun is what you use to fight your way back to your rifle.

Vox Populi said...

Looks like conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats sided together to oppose the bailout plan. What are your thoughts?

Gary R. Welsh said...

I think Speaker Pelosi poisoned the well deliberately. Instead of rising to the occasion, she took to the floor to blame everyting on Bush and the Republicans and then expected bipartisan support to get the bill passed. She demonstrated her willingness to destroy this country to ensure her party does well in November. The same old politics of self-destruction.

Vox Populi said...

You're seriously blaming Nancy Pelosi? Those Republicans weren't going to vote for the plan anyway, but they're using the excuse that she said unkind things as a reason to vote against "their country"?

If anyone poisoned the well it was John McCain, when he parachuted into a place he hasn't been since April to "fix" a problem he had never before shown interest in. It was he who rallied to the House conservatives side in that photo op meeting last week.

Anonymous said...

The bailout failed. Lets here it for freedom. Socialism has once again been destroyed.

Anonymous said...

did not realize that a handgun was to fight my way to my rifle but i like it; a lot; for the money, you can't beat a short barrel, pump action 12 ga; i live in whitebread fishers and the fear of the smell of a sea-change of some kind is palpable, just talked this weekend w/a neighbor about it; he's ex-military, he told me he's never more than 24" away from a gun that he has stashed all thru his house; maybe a bit extreme but something is going on folks;

Gary R. Welsh said...

Andre "We need bold leadership in Washington" Carson voted against the bailout. As if he had anything to fear in voting for it, stringing out Ellsworth and Donnelly.

Anonymous said...

Andre "We need bold leadership in Washington" Carson voted against the bailout. As if he had anything to fear in voting for it, stringing out Ellsworth and Donnelly.

Andre Carson is a real leader, not bowing down to the super rich elites. Ellsworth and Donnelly tried to burn more of the Constitution today. Here is a quote from Donnelly's website:

"In 2006, he was elected to U.S. Congress to represent Indiana’s 2nd District. He is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition which promotes a moderate agenda that includes fiscal discipline..."

Fiscal discipline? Spending an additional seven hundred _billion_ is being fiscal? Laughable!!

Here is what is on Ellsworth's website:

"It is unacceptable for billions of taxpayer dollars to be wasted due to improper accounting and a lack of oversight. So one of my top priorities is reducing waste, fraud and abuse and ensuring your tax dollars are being spent wisely."

If 700 billion isn't unacceptable then what is?

Jon E. Easter said...

What AI? You don't think a freshman Congressman bucking his own party is Bold Leadership? Come on! Bravo André!

Downtown Indy said...

Andre voted against the bailout package, not because of the bailout terms but because there wasn't a provision for enough free money to the poor, so they can buy houses they won't be able to keep up the payments on anyway.

Mike Kole said...

Gary, now Barr may well be a 'hypocritical flake'. It still beats a 'desperate reactionary, do anything maverick' or a 'status quo pro-regulatory agent of change'. I'll take any fiscal conservative I can get right now. McCain and Obama have proven themselves to be nothing of the sort.

Charles Allen said...

Plus, the ArmyTimes has reported that, for the first time since the Civil War, troops will be deployed within the US.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/