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California gun sales skyrocket after school shooting

December 20, 2012

In the aftermath of an election and another school shooting, firearm sales in California are at an all-time high. [PressEnterprise]

Friday’s shooting at a Connecticut school in which a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six adults with a .223-caliber Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle has reignited calls for gun control legislation.

In October, with pre-election debates including arguments for and against stricter gun control laws, gun enthusiasts began scrambling to pick up weapons that could be banned.

According to the FBI, during the month of October, background checks required for gun purchases in California jumped 27 percent, from 89,164 to 113,832.

Following the November election, gun sales increased 49 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the California Department of Justice.

California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. The state bans assault weapons, requires background checks on all gun buyers, requires that all gun sales be processed through a licensed dealer, bans the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and has a 10-day waiting period for the purchase of firearms.

 


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Crusader’s future essay: Search for the truth: Ignore bigoted crackpots like Bill Moyers


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throwing dirt – losing ground


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Pot/kettle/black.


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If Crusader has any essay’s, the proper way would be to submit an opinion piece to one of the email’s on the right sidebar.


There is a line between sharing an opinion and being a a lobbyist.


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since we are bannnig stuff


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Morality ends where a gun begins.


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Mao: Power comes from the barrel of a gun.


If it’s good enough for Mao, it’s good enough for me.


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This makes it very difficult to figure out who I trust less… the U.S. government or gun manufacturing corporations. Perhaps they are just one and the same.


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Stop with the cutesy hyperbole for one moment.


What exactly have “gun manufacturing corporations” said that you question?


It sounds like you’re just trying to stir the pot.


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President Obama is the greatest firearms salesman the world has seen since Samuel Colt. Firearm sales have been off the charts for as long as Obama has been president. One of those unintended consequences, aye president?


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actually gun ownership is in decline , more modern tools have been developed to solve problems previously solved with guns.


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More guns are being produced and sold in the USA than ever before. This trend has been increasing at least as long as Obama has been president.


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Well funny thing. The NRA propaganda machine & the general right wing mythos has constantly said that “Obama & them libruls iz goin to take our gunz”…Guess what this looks like to them and lot of other folks? Already, editorial after editorial reads: “Well this is a good start” Putting Dianne Feinstein at the spear point of this National Conversation is like putting Pat Robertson in charge of whether or not there should be Christianity taught in public schools. She is an extremist. The “blood on your hands” Hyperbolic accusations against gun owners doesn’t help much either. All this does is entrench positions…& increase profits, like it always has. Meanwhile there are many other doins’ in Washington, Pakistan, & Fukushima that are being ignored as the traditional, rote debate on Gun control ramps up once again. Its like watching the Nutcracker for the fiftieth time, but a lot less enjoyable. Everybody knows what everybody is going to say. Not one truly new idea will be brought forth. This is not going ot help the democrats win back the congress 2 years from now. Worse, much worse, is these same old misinformed homilies as a solution to these tragedies will fail to prevent them once again.


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It’s not only “conservatives” that are buying guns. Not by a long shot…


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Gun ownership has declined over the past 40 years — but almost all of the decrease has come from Democrats. By 2010, according to the General Social Survey, the gun ownership rate among adults that identified as Democrats had fallen to 22 percent. It remained at about 50 percent among Republican adults. Nate Silver


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Oddly enough, the three people that have asked me about “how to get a gun” are all liberals. One was a teacher/school principal a few years ago.


Go figure. It could be that most “conservative” people already have them and/or know how to get them, and the liberals do not (yet) – or it could just be something entirely different.


As soon as police and militaries around the world stop using guns, then citizens should stop, too.


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Diane Feinstein is like a broken record! Same old stuff. If I recall correctly, back when she was in the San Francisco city government she turned in a broken hand gun! Wow, big deal, it came out later that she kept a fully functional one for her own “self defence”.


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Actually it was a handgun that head already been confiscated the SF police, already slated for destruction… Someone ran the the serial number & she was found out. Of course this was during a Campaign to…BAN handguns in SF. That was in 1984. Look up old Prop 15: http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_15,_Handgun_Registration_Initiative_(1982). Please also note who was running for Governor at the time, and what the results were.


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“California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. The state bans assault weapons, requires background checks on all gun buyers, requires that all gun sales be processed through a licensed dealer, bans the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and has a 10-day waiting period for the purchase of firearms.”


Most of the above is true but……what is considered a “banned” assault weapon by the author? I had no problem at all buying an AR-15, .223, 10 round magazine, semi-auto (same basic rifle as the Bushmaster) last Monday at a local Big 5. So I guess the AR-15 and it’s variations aren’t considered assault wepons?


Law abiding gun owners can see what’s coming or at least what they fear is coming. I also attended a gun show in Ventura last Saturday and it was a mad house! I have no idea how many guns were being sold because it isn’t a case of cash and carry with them, but I can say that ammunition was leaving that show by the wagon loads. Buyers were five and six deep around the ammo sellers tables waiting their turn to buy.


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All weapons, by their very nature, are assault-worthy. Hell, people can be assaulted with a rock or a stick – or verbally, even. Assault is over-used here, and is only a societally-programmed word for most people who lack education in certain areas of life.


You might not have had a problem buying that “AR-15” but that would have required a background check, a wait period, and the “magazine” is not removable (or cannot be, under CA law).


I was at the Tulsa, OK gunshow and saw that it was quite simple to buy from a “private party” anything they had to sell. No paperwork, no waiting, etc. It was like “real” freedom. Freedom to do what one wants, taking responsibility for one’s own actions, etc. Then I came back to CA and see how easily freaked out “non-gun people” can get so quickly and easily.


It did not feel right to just be able to buy a “real” assault weapon without anyone’s approval, but that is only because I grew up with California programming.


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Ventura saw a record number of sales, my best friend was there and loaded up on ammo.

He said it was 5-6 people deep in every line and one of his friends paid to get in but couldn’t get past all the people so they gave him a pass to come back the next morning early. Most of the smart people have been preparing since obama and crew got elected.


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There was also a run on hostess cupcakes when they went BK


Human nature


I’ll bet a great number of the cupcakes never were consumed, just rotted in their packages


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I don’t know BCP. With the amount of preservatives in those Twinkee’s and Cupcakes, those people who bought are probably good for about twenty years till they have to worry. ;-)


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One of the cool things about firearms is they don’t rot…


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But they can rust; unless they are made of nickel.


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You mean stainless steel?


A steel with a high nickle/chromium content?


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Well, my gun is nickel-plated


I’m no metalurgist, so maybe some metal savvy person can explain it all here.


I understand that stainless steel is also very resistant to corrosion and rust, but it also has nickel and chromium mixed in with it to help prevent rust.


The website that I consulted explains it this way:


“What happens is this: Like a sacrificial metal, the chromium rusts first. Unlike iron however, rusting chromium doesn’t crumble apart. Instead, it forms an invisibly thin layer that protects the iron underneath. The nickel in stainless steel helps hold this protective layer of chromium rust in place.


Remember that chromium and nickel are present throughout stainless steel, not just on the surface. Because of this, the microscopic layer will form itself anew, even when the steel is cut or scratched.”


http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/stainless-steel/


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Yikes…


If your gun is nickle plated it’s not “made of nickle”.


Carbon steel (AKA “regular steel”) become stainless steel (of which thee are many grades) when it has nickle and chromium added to the mix. It’s not a matter of SS having nickle and chromium added to it to make it rust resistant.


Your reference is completely wrong. The microscopic layer will NOT “form itself anew, even when the steel is cut or scratched” unless the stainless steel is passivated via chemical/heat processing.


Stainless steel still corrodes but it does so at a much lower level than carbon steel.


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Total insanity.


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I agree.


Complete insanity to oppress the civil rights of those who wish to exercise their rights.


Insanity to leave law abiding citizens disarmed in the face of evil.


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Yes, it very much is insane to try and contravene the US Constitution.


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You’re just upset that the crap you are trying to peddle isn’t be bought by most anymore. In 1989 “gun control” was a hot new item. Now at the end of 2012 most people realize it’s an ineffective product. People have lived and learned. You’re living in the dark ages.


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