Record Gun Sales in June
The Month of June topped all other months on record according to the FBI's gun background count. The total was 3.9 million. For comparison the months prior to the 2016 election when everyone was concerned about a Clinton election and maybe some sort of ban, the numbers were in the mid 2 millions. March is the only other month that has even topped 3 million. People are very worried.
A couple weeks ago I was talking to one of those guys who makes his living going around teaching police departments self defence concepts, de escalation, use of deadly force, etc. I was amused at his mention of the very first item that should be on everyone's list of keeping safe. Not big guns or fast shooting but being someplace where bad things are not happening. Choosing not to live in a dangerous place, not to travel during dangerous times of the day, not to associate with dangerous people, not to habituate dangerous places.
Another thing this guy mentioned was not to escalate confrontations. Got a road rager, don't even wave, just ignore. Someone yelling bad things, turn around and walk away without response. And his last bit of wisdom, "bad things happen at night".
Back to guns.
Forty percent of the gun sales are to people who've never owned a firearm before, new gun owners. Half the gun sales are for handguns. I'm not so sure this is a great thing. Most gun deaths are suicide and most suicides as well as murders are via handgun.
Last week there were a few gun incidents of note. One thing is a vastly increased number of murders in cities as police do a lot less policing. Similar was seen in Baltimore a couple years ago after a contentious death in police custody and the resultant civil unrest.
An incident of what I call brandishing happened which made for a good internet memes. It's that photo up top.
As funny as this is, it could well have ended up tragically. While many argue the rightness or wrongness of displaying a gun in this situation and whether or not the homeowners had any idea how to hold a firearm safely, all I can think of is why the heck didn't they just stay inside their house? Ok, they were probably scared, and fear gives people that fight/flight kind of thought, and they thought fight. Could have gotten someone killed, including themselves.
Like it or not I'd say given current circumstances guns are here to stay. Back when I followed the issue more closely I noticed that there is a segment of the population who don't own guns yet like the right to be able to buy a gun if they so choose. Some of those folks are now buying guns. We've had substantial civil unrest in many major metro areas. Any time protesters block a public street or walk so as to hinder citizens from using that street or walk they are technically breaking the law. People are scared of getting caught up in a disturbance, being pulled from their cars and beaten as they've seen on TV, or worse.
My parting shot.. If you have a firearm at least take a basic safety course, fire 500 rounds a year, learn how to clean it, or sell it. I keep all firearms unloaded. I'm in as safe a place as I've ever been. The revolution aint today, or tomorrow. If the revolution comes I'll probably be somewhere else anyway.
Comments
"Fire 500 rounds a year?"
I don't get it; why? Sounds like an expensive and dangerous waste of resources (not that I'm planning on getting a gun - personally, I think firearms are grossly overrated as weapons, and despite 200+ years of dramatic improvement, their primary true virtue remains the "thunderstick factor").
I used to have a friend who had more direct familiarity with guns than I do; he once suggested that rather than try to ban machine guns and such, it would be more logical to ban small arms, since apparently murder/suicide is pretty much all they're really any good for.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
@The Liberal Moonbat The idea of shooting
The idea of shooting enough to maintain some sort of proficiency is that people learn how to use and actually hold a firearm if they are going to own one. Guns of all sorts have great inherent danger, meaning if they are mishandled or misused they can be very dangerous. That firearm that was bought years ago, and never fired, but sits fully loaded in the back of the sock drawer is a pretty serious thing. Is there a round in the chamber? Where is the safety, does it even have a safety? Good things to know if it's going to sit in the sock drawer.
The couple in the photo were reacting to a crowd of protesters who had entered a private enclave within St Louis. From the looks of things they'd never fired the weapons they owned, they showed all the signs of someone unstable and scared and about to kill someone. The video was terrifying to watch.
I own guns. I appreciate other responsible citizens owning guns. I do think though that responsibility includes de escalation, conflict avoidance, and knowledgeable proficiency.