Friday, March 23, 2012

Gun Sales Booming

You've already seen that Ruger is on order-taking hiatus because of the massive sales in the gun industry. My own industry contacts tell me that handgun demand right now is simply unprecedented (and it even made Fox News). I'm going to go out on a limb and say this demand is not the pre-election "bubble" I've been predicting for months. Rather, I think we're seeing the strength of Gun Culture Ver. 2.0, with literally millions of new people coming into the culture. As we've talked about extensively, the new shooters are being driven by concealed carry, the rise of the training community and more and more by the practical shooting sports. I'm hearing that the sports are experiencing growth levels they haven't seen since the glory days of the 1980s.

We've been talking for a year or so now that we're well past the tipping point and the mainstream culture has shifted wholesale in our favor. I would say that's one of the reason the now-collapsed antigun "industry" has so drastically seized onto the sad shooting story out of Florida. I'm not going to discuss that case, but I thought I might link to an unlikely comment, on the DemocraticUnderground.com, strangely enough:
Why Gun Control advocates will end up with egg on their face once again...
...all the gun control advocates are giddy, and think this is a turning point in their movement, LOL. Time for a reality check. I took this photo a while back at a grocery store's magazine rack... This photo shows the entire rack.. If you look closely their is about 17 different publications dedicated to firearms...And not a single "gun control monthly" in sight. They would not be for sale, if their was not a demand.
Gun control is not coming back as any kind of national movement, as if it was ever a national movement.

I will make two points on the Florida shooting, points I've made before in the blog, the podcast and THE BEST DEFENSE: First, do not ever give chase! A concealed carry license is not a junior police badge. One of the issues I talked about last week on the podcast (and will be talking about this week) is the complexities of intervention, that is, an armed civilian intervening in a violent situation in which they are not directly involved. Secondly, do not, either by intent or ignorance, escalate a situation! Your focus as an armed civilian is to deescalate the situation if possible and be ready to respond if the situation escalates.

We have our first planning meetings on the next season of THE BEST DEFENSE next week, and I intend to build in both escalation and deescalation scenarios, as well as at least one "giving chase" scenario for 2013.

AN ADDITIONAL ASIDE:

What I see happening in Florida right now is on a social level the opposite of deescalation. The President's comment that if he had a son, he would "look like Trayvon;" Louis Farrakhan tweeting that "the law of retaliation may be applied;" the blame blame blame (It's the GOP! It's Rush Limbaugh!") and the steady class war/race war drumbeat from people who should — dear Lord! — know better!

I grew up in the Jim Crow South, in Memphis...I saw the neighborhoods burn when Dr. King was killed...I've seen bright red blood in the streets from "race riots"...I've seen machingeguns turned on snipers in an American city...and I know what spit feels like when it hits your face because people whom you thought were your friends can't understand why you support "those n&^$#rs."

That people in power, including the President of the United States, would throw gasoline on a racial fire is utterly appalling — and terrifying — to me.

This doesn't end well.

13 comments:

Pathfinder said...

I had to point this out in another thread - Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch member. It's not like he was some casual passerby, he was doing his job, volunteer though he may have been. Witht he crime in that neighborhood, I would have done the same thing.

Also, there is one report that Zimmerman was on his back on the ground being beaten bloody by Trayvon who BTW is a 6'2" football player, not the baby faced choir boy the MSM and community activists are portraying him to be. It was while he was being beaten that Zimmerman shot him. The police on the scene labeled it a righteous shoot according to the report.

Oh, BTW, Trayvon the choir boy was on suspension from school for 5 days for some obviously racist allegations!

The Florida situation is being played big time by a whole host of joined forces who want Zimmerman (a multi-racial Hispanic but is being labeled as "white" by the MSM)crucified, gun owners portrayed as villains, and the "no retreat" laws overturned.

This is classic Alinsky crap, and everyone - EVERYONE - is playing into their script, letting them steer the conversation just like always, instead of taking the dialogue back and dealing with the facts - and holding the MSM and community activists accountable for their damn lies.

Tim Covington said...

Michael, it is no surprise to me that Ruger is having problems meeting demand. My wife wants a basic 1911 in 45 ACP for her birthday next month (YES!). However, nobody has one in the price range we are looking to pay. Instead of paying cash, I might have to put one on layaway.

nj_larry said...

Dang Pathfinder took the words right out of my mouth. Wonderfully said sir ! I've been following the limited facts as they come out and I've started to see where this kid is gonna be 180 degrees to what Al Sharpton is saying. Heck Al Sharpton? The red flags should be up already.

Let me add to the deescalate theme...
MB said ..."Your focus as an armed civilian is to deescalate the situation if possible and be ready to respond if the situation escalates."

I hear you and others about not racketing up a situation. Best to avoid to begin with. Don't go to strip joints, buy drugs, get drunk in public, hang out with trailer trash. BUT...can I add that this theme plays right into those who say "yup, great idea. Let's make a law that you have to retreat and cower like a dog."

See, the sword cuts both ways. Or as momma used to say "you can't have your cake and eat it too" . The vast unwashed masses (and more importantly the politicians) will see that argument as reason to do away with Castle doctrine and SYG laws. These two concepts of MUST deescalate and CD and SYG are in fact diametrically opposed. The actual fact of life is that with CD and SYG you have to accept some edge behavior. Yup some folks are gonna die who shouldn't. The shooters are gonna be totally bankrupt after the lawyer fees. But the greater good is the dignity they restore to the populace.

Michael Bane said...

No, Larry, I don't believe that "deescalate" is in opposition to SYG laws. I have deescalated situation where, had the situation escalated, I was within my legal rights to shoot (disparity of force, etc.). If I can talk my way out of shooting somebody, I'll do that every time.

I do NOT believe in mandatory retreat LAWS...the difference is a law tells us we are mandated by a massive government intervention to retreat, regardless of the "situation on the ground." What I am talking about is the way we as armed citizens arrange our own "decision tree" as we move through our lives. I wrote about this a lot in TRAIL SAFE, and if you don't have a copy please send me your address and I'll send you one.

The decision tree I outlined (based on one drafted by attorney and shooter Andrew Branca in his studies on self-defense...//www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Guide-Armed-Citizen/dp/0966511913...http://lawofselfdefense.com/) is:

1) Avoid
2) Placate/Deescalate/Retreat
3) Non-Lethal Options/Retreat
4) Presentation/Retreat
5) Engage/Retreat

Essentially, I reserve the "retreat" option at any stage of a violent encounter. If I can get the hell out of Dodge SAFELY, I will. My "job" in a violent encounter is to get me and more importantly those in my care out of the kill zone as quickly and efficiently as possible. I am not a police officer...I don't play one on television...and I as an armed civilian DO NOT have the power of law behind me in anything but a very specifically delineated "gravest extreme" situation.

Ultimately, I or any other armed civilian will be judged by the decisions we make "on the ground" under the highest stress we've ever experienced. I am not a believer in "I'll respond and sort it out afterwards," because not only is it not good strategy, but it leads to stupid tactics.

When we step into, or are drawn into, a violent encounter, we MUST keep the best case solution in mind — get out unscathed. I could quote Sun Tzu here, but at least I'll spa rte you this time.

No doubt our blood enemies can and maybe will seize on something we say and call for BS laws, but that's what blood enemies do. We CAN'T close our eyes to the reality of violent encounters because of what our enemies may or may not do.

And BTW, I totally agree with Pathfinder that this is classic Alinsky crap!

mb

JasonEuc said...

Hi Michael,

I do find it ironic that the current resident of the White House will repeatedly apologize to "de-escalate" Afghanistan (WH's words, not my belief) but chime in to escalate in the USA...

Anonymous said...

Colt firearms is in the same production boat as Ruger. I understand that there distributor sales will soon be closed for the year. Bushmaster ended Feb with 20 million dollars of product back ordered. Please forgive misspellings I'm on a mobile.

nj_larry said...

MB we are talking past each other. Sorry for any confusion on my part. I was making the POLITICAL point that we will be beaten up by the anti's with our own arguments. That's all. I think that is just reality. As for tactical behavior in an individual case, I clearly hear you (as I tried to explain) that retreat is good. Even more better as I said - the farther you are from the locus of negative behavior types, the safer you will be. Safer by an enormous percentage. I am reminded of when Siegfried and Roy had their tiger act. After Roy was mauled, some reporter asked "what could/should he have done?". My first thought was, duh, how about not hanging out with tigers?

George said...

I am contributing to the boom. I picked up a S&W 617 and Ruger LCR 22 recently.

I was in a gun shop the other day at lunch time and one would have thought it was midday on a Saturday.

This is going to be a very profitable year for gun companies....

Kristophr said...

Democratic Underground has a section called the Gun-geon.

It is full of socialist gun enthusiasts, and they have been doing the "I told you so!" dance for quite some time there.

Dave S. said...

Ah, how well I remember the Great Panic of 2008, when I said gun control was a dead issue that the Dems wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, and I was called an "ostrich". Among other things.

I told you we won.

Now we stay vigilant, consolidate, and slowly re-take some lost ground.

Beaumont said...

Michael, the most pathetic thing I see in this mess -- even worse than the unfortunate death of Mr. Martin -- is the exposure of a significant fraction of the black population who give every appearance of desiring racial conflict. And how would any reasonable person expect the rest of the populace to react? Anyone who thinks gun sales are high right now ain't seen nothin' yet.

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