AlterNet: There's No Ammo on the Shelves -- Is It the Gun Nuts' Fear of Obama-lypse?

There's No Ammo on the Shelves -- Is It the Gun Nuts' Fear of Obama-lypse?

By Yasha Levine, AlterNet. Posted May 7, 2009.

A trip to the L.A. exurb and desert city of Victorville tells you all you need to know about why it's so hard to buy ammunition these days.



VICTORVILLE, Calif. -- Ever since it became clear that Barack Obama would be our next president, there's been an unprecedented run on guns 'n ammo in America. Partly this is fueled by fears, some justified some not, that Obama will outlaw a broad range of assault weapons; partly it's fueled by socioeconomic factors, racism and right-wing hate.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Victorville, a desert exurb of Los Angeles that boomed faster with the subprime craze than just about any city in the country and fell harder when it all collapsed. Today, guns and ammo are in short supply here in Victorville. But there is an abundance of despair and paranoia.

There are a lot of guns around these parts, too. The barren desert surroundings are perfect setting for gun enthusiasts of all stripes, and it feels like most everyone here owns a weapon or two. And why not? You can drive 15 minutes beyond city limits, turn off onto a backroad and start unloading to heart's content. That is, if you are able to get your hands on some ammunition.

In Victorville, every single gun store is out of all types of ammo, all the time.

"I went through 11,000 of 9mm rounds in two days. That's an awful lot for a little shop like this. I would never ever stock that much," an owner of a gun shop tucked away in a corner of a strip mall told me. "All the people that make ammunition are making more than they have in any other year, but they are still running out." ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/139872/there%27s_no_ammo_on_the_shelves_--_is_it_the_gun_nuts%27_fear_of_obama-lypse/

that usually own gun shops, but bad for the est of us really.
In addition they are just sending money to china, where a LOT of these cheaper munitions are made!!!!

Overall, these fucking morans are giving their ever decreasing amounts of money, and welfare, and soc sec monies to these fucking merchants of death!!!

And by merchant of death i mean these mega corps that are making metric TONS of money off the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the pirates!

It's enough to make me kinda glad I'm over here in old Europe, where old ideas like pointless wars are becoming ever more so passe...
oh well. I guess I'll have to wait until sanity returns to the US before coming home :(

first it was shrub, now the RW gun humpers!!! (notice I'm NOT including the liberal gun humpers. at least they know enough not to be upset by "one o dem uppity n...'s in the White house!"

oh well. education is the key as always.

on edit:
However... I think I have to admit i'd be tempted to get myself a nice riffle and a shotgun, as well as ammo building kits... I always preferred the idea of rock-salt buckshot for intruders. mostly non-lethal, and hurts like hell.
and after all, even a non-firing shotgun gets the point across with that infamous, unique "KLAK-KLAK!"

Chinese ammunition imports were banned by the Clinton Administration, a ban that was upheld by Bush the Younger.

The top 3 centerfire rifle calibers, in terms of ammunition sales, are .223 Remington/5.56x45mm, .30 Russian Short/7.62x39mm, and .308 Winchester/7.62x51mm. Most .223 and .308 are made in the United States, and most 7.62x39mm comes from Europe. Most U.S.-market centefire handgun ammunition is manufactured in the U.S.

The present tight ammunition shortage actually dates from 2005 (due to Iraq war demands on production, coupled with post-Katrina hedging), but it was mostly manifested as price increases until mid-2008 or so. I haven't bought much ammunition recently, only because my wife and I stocked up back in the early 2000's, when 7.62x39mm was $99/1200. It's easily tripled in price since then.

FWIW, the present run on guns an ammunition is primarily about concerns over new bans on the most popular guns, the possibility of a Clinton-style import ban on European ammunition imports, and various state proposals to hobble ammunition production. Given that tens of millions of us were burned by the 1994 Feinstein ban, hedging against a repeat of that idiocy is not unreasonable, IMO.

making out like bandits with fear politics just like b*shco did. Wait till next summer all this stuff they are hoarding will be selling really cheap.

These people are fucking NUTS! If marijuana was decriminalized I'd CONSIDER hiring a crop duster plane to drop "the best mellowing stuff" on our town just to help these wing-nuts CHILL OUT. :crazy:




Obama's out to destroy this country

Date published: 5/7/2009

Obama's out to destroy this country

President Obama seems intent on doing what the Soviet Union could not do: destroying America.

In his first 100 days, Mr. Obama has set this nation on a course of collapse, spending $1 trillion without even submitting his first budget to Congress for approval. The economy will recover from this, just as it always has in the past, but it takes time.

Throwing $1 trillion at industry will not cause people to be confident and start spending again.

To make matters worse, Mr. Obama will then reduce our taxes (which will surely mean we will pay more next spring).

Increase spending and decrease taxes? I don't understand how this can be good for the economy.

Then he travels the globe and apologizes for what we have done; that's an insult to every veteran who has worn the uniform. If it weren't for our veterans, we and many countries of the world would not enjoy the freedoms we experience.

Next, let's gut our intelligence services, starting with the most clandestine of them all, the CIA. Let's remove their capability to interrogate the worst people on the planet.

Now we have a possible global pandemic, and what is our president doing? Has he closed our borders with Mexico, or checked those coming into our country from Mexico? No, he has Air Force One doing fly-bys over New York, scaring thousands who believed we were under attack again.

Stop watching TV and wake up before we go the way of Rome.

Seems like they need to get out of Mom's basement more often.

freaking scared that they can't think straight.

What always amazes me is how many conservative guys worship the military. And they're usually the ones who did not serve. So they have this insane desire to be tough men like our mighty warriors. Very sad. Especially since most of the vets I know who were in combat are anti-war liberals.

If those basement 'warriors' ever saw real combat, they would change their little minds in a hurry.