Hmm, the Obama stimulus plan?

Via the AP: Fears of a Dem crackdown lead to boom in gun sales



“They’re scared to death of losing their rights,” said David Hancock, manager of Bob Moates, where sales have nearly doubled in the past week and are up 15 percent for the year. On Election Day, salespeople were called in on their day off because of the crowd.

[...]

While Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, attributes some of the sales boom to the tanking economy, he thinks the Democratic sweep is the top reason why guns are suddenly a hot commodity. “I don’t think he’ll be able to stand up to that anti-Second Amendment wing of the Democratic party that’s just been spoiling for chance to ban America’s guns,” LaPierre said of Obama.

Many people get irrational about their guns, and I am not certain what the origins of the thought processes are. I am unaware of any period in US history wherein the government tried to take guns away from people. Even if I am forgetting some specific incident in the past, there certainly has been no attempt in my lifetime to confiscate firearms. Yes, there have been some restrictions on certain types of guns, and yes there have been some policies put into place to make it a smidge more difficult to acquire a gun. Still, can anyone actually tell me when the right to keep and bear arms has been threatened? Yes, I know that there have been some specific cities with bans (but not confiscations), but the Supreme Court recently overturned those laws. Indeed, based on the ruling in Heller, one could argue that gun ownership rights have never been stronger in the US, as the Court recongized for the first time ever that gun ownership is a constitutionally protected individual right.

I understand the legitimate desire for someone to wish to have a firearm to protect their home. I understand that many people enjoy hunting and target shooting. What I don’t get are people who think that keeping guns will protect them from the day when the military takes over, since if an M1-Abrams tanks rolls into their driveway because the revolution has finally come, I don’t think that that cache of weapons in the basement will make much difference. Still, people do persist in the fantasy.

Beyond that, I am especially unclear on where the “Obama will take your guns away” meme started. For example, I had a student ask in class if it was true that if Obama was elected that he would take all the guns away. Apparently this had been of some concern in the student’s family and as evidence the student provided two columns from the NRA’s magazine (which, I guess answers my question as to the origins of the meme). Then the other day, after the election, Middle Son asked me the same question, which has apparently been a focus of discussion at the elementary school level around here. And, of course, that’s not the kind of thing that would emerge naturally in such an environment, so clearly their parents had been the concerned parties.

That people have interest in gun policy is fine. However, that they are so confused on the basic functioning of our government is depressing.