The one business that's booming!

Those of you who follow here on a regular basis know that I recently went on a deer hunt and bagged a nice little 8-point using a borrowed 30-06. That experience hooked me! Anyway, after that, MDB suggested that a rifle of my own may make a great Christmas/birthday present.

Who could argue with that?

So, as I do with all such purchases, I started researching, reading up on the different calibers available and the pricing structure of different manufacturers, including Mossberg, Ruger, Remington, Weatherby, and Winchester. After looking online and checking ads at different stores around town, I decided that the Remington 770 would be the best gun for me and I decided that the 30-06 would be the best caliber. Did you know that the 30-06 Springfield was used during WWII in the famous M-1 Garand rifle? Did you know that the venerable M-14 also used(s) the 30-06 and that that very rifle is making a comeback with the US Marine sniper service because of the power and reliability of the cartridge? How could such a well-known and renowned cartridge go wrong?

Anyway, Part of the research I did took me to a local gun show. The place was absolutely PACKED!!! You literally could not get down the relatively wide aisles without turning sideways! I found out that the .308 cartridge is basically the same as the 30-06 except that it uses less brass for essentially the same sized bullet. I also asked about business in general and found out quickly that gun sales are brisk and getting brisker! Each vendor offered the same reason; the election of Obama!

Apparently, the gun-owning and using public is VERY concerned that after Obama gets in office, their gun ownership rights will erode quickly and they may not be ABLE to purchase a gun as easily as they can today.

Well, I thought "Dan, that's one gun show; only one single anecdote." Knowing statistics as I do, I know the size of the sample determines the accuracy of results in most cases, so I didn't think too much about it. After all, these guys are TRYING to convince people to buy guns; what better way than to make people afraid that their 2nd amendment rights will be taken away! Anyway, as I said, I had decided that a Remington 770 would be the best gun for me and, lo and behold, Academy Sports and Outdoors has them on sale this week for a mere $429! So I called the local store and found out that they had ONE left, so I asked them to hold it for me and went down there this afternoon!

MADHOUSE!!!

At the gun counter, there must have been 50 people lined up or waiting for their background check to run through! I asked the guy if it was unusually busy today and he said "No, it's been like this every day for at least a month and there doesn't seem to be any sign of a let-up!"

A larger sample, folks!

As I waited for my own background check to clear, I must have heard the name "Obama" 100 times! Apparently, the guy at the gun show was right! People are scared to death that their 2nd amendment rights are going to be attacked and they want to get their guns NOW before it's too late!

I only wanted to get my own gun to deer-hunt with! Well, we're heading back to God's country on Friday, so I'll report on any further baggings afterward!