Gun Sales Have Been Increasing, but Not Just Since When Obama Was Elected

The mainstream media reported over and over, and over again that the election of President Barack Obama in November 2008 caused a sudden increase in gun sales. But that actually isn’t quite true; at least when you look at the numbers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); as well as the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reports Barrons. The news site noted that domestic commercial firearms-industry sales are currently estimated to be in excess of $4.1 billion, but more interestingly this isn’t a sudden increase. Read more

Who Guards the Guards: Hearst Corp. Seeks Police Records Over Illicit Gun Sales

Do you think if the average Joe bought a machine gun illegally that his or her records would be kept private? What if said buyer were a police officer? The issue might be different, as notes the Albany Times Union, which along with Hearst Corp. (owner of the paper) is trying to get the release of records related to the sales and purchase of “illicit” machineguns by former and current Albany police officers. But there is a hold up the story notes:

“Lawyers for the city and the Albany Police Officers Union, which is part of Council 82, said the records should remain sealed because the officers who possessed the guns may have engaged in misconduct or possibly illegal activity. Therefore, they argued, the records fall into a category of ‘personnel’ files which precludes disclosure under state Civil Service Law because they could be used to evaluate an officer’s employment status.”

Now this could be considered just one side of the story, but let’s consider this fact:

“No officers have been disciplined, arrested or passed over for a promotion due to the gun purchases, according to multiple departmental sources.”

It is also worth noting – at least to us – that Albany is just a couple of hours away from New York City, and yet Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t said a peep about this story. The mayor has spoken out about illegal gun sales in states hundreds of miles away, targeted gun shows and so-called straw purchases but a sale of truly illegal guns in practically his backyard and he’s quiet on the issue.

AFP News Outlet Of Course Throws Biased Kicker

In a story that basically highlighted the fact that firearms sales are up this year, and cited the usual reasons including fear of new gun laws under President Obama, greater interest in hunting, and fears of recession-driven crime, the piece from AFP via Google News managed to still get in some bias. The story was basically about the recent Chantilly Gun Show, and thus just looking at why sales of firearms were up.

After covering both sides with reasonable fairness, the kicker of the story – the final sentence – throws in this for good measure:

“Meanwhile, 30,000 people a year are killed by gunfire in the United States.”

Nice to see that some writers just can’t keep the bias out.

CNN Story Tries To Be Cute

CNN.com/Fortune Magazine is running a story today about the slowing of firearms sales. Ever since the election of President Obama, gun and ammunition sales have increased because of a fear that the administration’s policies will lead the country to economic ruin and draconian firearms laws. To make fun of those of us who fear the President’s “hope and change” message, the story is full of puns and double meanings. There is a well established rhetorical tactic that says if you can’t win an argument with logic you should ridicule the opponent and the opponent’s position. Read more

Christian Science Monitor Quotes Gallup Poll

Do most gun owners still believe that President Obama is going to take their guns away? That’s what The Christian Science Monitor is reporting this week, citing new findings from a Gallup poll. However, the wording is certainly biased. Note the headline:

“Most gun owners think Obama wants to take away their weapons” Read more

Crain’s Business: Better Late Than Never on Gun Sales Story

Do investors really trust Crain’s Business with up to date information on the world of business? It makes you wonder if this is the case after reading this past weekend’s piece titled “Post-election jump in gun, ammo sales eases, sellers say.”

For the record, the November elections are just two months away, so this story is about 10 months late I think. Of course even the introduction sounds like something you might have read… oh say, in January or February of this year:

“The ascension of a Democratic president and a Democratic-controlled Congress gave rise to fears among gun owners of renewed gun control efforts, with rumors of new taxes and tracking technology for ammunition fueling a rush on small-arms purchases and ammunition hoarding.”

Let’s hope this is the last we hear of this story. It should be solidly filed under “OLD NEWS.”

Bloomberg News Puts Spin on Louisiana Firearms Sale

This weekend Louisiana offered the first-ever Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax holiday, where lawmakers approved a tax break for those looking to purchase firearms. The story that ran on Bloomberg.com was mostly clear about the facts, but we want to set the record straight on a point or two. Most importantly the author claimed this was to give the state’s 270,000 hunters a break. Again, buying guns isn’t just about hunting, but in fairness this article did run just before the start of dove hunting season, so maybe that’s how the writer put the facts together. The problem with this is that it would be considered lazy journalism in most circumstances, as there is no proof that just hunters were buying the firearms.

The bigger concern is that the writer felt compelled to add this strongly anti-firearm passage:

“Across the country, more than 450 municipal leaders, including Ray Nagin of New Orleans, have formed Mayors Against Illegal Guns to stop the spread of weapons. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a founding member of the group, which has supported gun buyback programs.”

While it might not seem like much, it has nothing to do with the story, and worse the writer notes that Nagin wasn’t reached for comment. So why include it? Well, with Bloomberg as the name of the magazine it seems that Bloomberg (Mike Bloomberg founded this magazine) would have to be in the story, especially if guns are involved.

Gun Ownership on the Rise – Is this News?

According to a recent gun sales are increasing and it is because of concerns over possible future legislation. At this point we wouldn’t be surprised if Seattle Times and Seattlepi.com reports that oil prices have eased and home sales were sluggish in the first quarter of this year. Talk about being late on a story, but that didn’t stop this Seattle-based Web site from doing a bit of fear mongering:

“Gun owners worried that a bad economy could lead to increased violence and suspicious that new stricter gun laws are on the horizon are rushing in record numbers to get concealed weapons permits.”

However, what is worrisome is that this is a wire story that is in fact from The Associated Press. So the question is did the Seattle Times run a very old and dated piece, or does the AP hate guns so much that it will rehash a story while the news is slow? You be the judge.