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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

This is from the Denver Post.  I have been seeing articles like this from all 
over the country.  The one thing most reporters get wrong is 'assault' in the 
description of rifles.  These rifles operate exactly the same as a 12 gauge 
semi-auto shotgun or 22 rifle that my grandather bought before my birth, and 
I owned before I was 10.  I think these reporters typically have as little 
experience with or knowledge about firearms as many of our lawmakers.

I'll be going to one of the largest gun shows in the country , next month, 
just because it is local.  I rarely go to gun shows, and lord knows I already 
own plenty of firearms and ammunition.  But, it does give a good barometer of 
how things are going in 50% of the country.  Well, with guns, more than 50%.  
A simlilar article in a Texas paper had the shop owner taling about a middle 
age couple coming in the day after the lection, wearing Obama shirts, worried 
that they needed to buy more weapons, right away.....  ;-)    ........Between 
Clinton , w/de congress, and obama, w.dem congress, this country will have 
quadrupled the number of civilian owned firearms in under 20 years.  It is a 
gret time for one industry anyway.........bobford



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http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10910395

Home > Denver & the West
 
 

Obama's record on firearms triggers run on sales in state

By Jason Blevins and Nancy Lofholm 

The Denver Post 



Chris Walker, left, an employee at Jerry's Outdoor Sports in Grand Junction, 
shows an AR-15 assault rifle to Chuck Porter of Fruita. Porter and other gun 
enthusiasts have concerns about President-elect Barack Obama's record on 
firearms. (Photos by Barton Glasser, Special to The Denver Post )Related 
Articles
Nov 7:
Fears of a Dem crackdown lead to boom in gun salesBuying guns, for fear of 
losing the right to bear themGRAND JUNCTION — John Faulkner and his wife, 
Brenda, thought Wednesday was a good day to buy a handgun. 

"I'm 37 years old, and this is the first time in my life that I am really 
scared for our future," said Faulkner, an oil field worker, as he perused the 
collection of weaponry in A Pawn Shop here. 

At Aurora's Firing Line gun shop, Steve Wickham was also purchasing. 
"Anything I can get my hands on," he said as he cradled a $699 9mm handgun. 

Same thing in Lakewood: "I was selling guns before I even opened the door," 
said George Horne, owner of The Gun Room. "It's gone completely mad. Everyone 
is buying everything I've got on the shelves. Sales have been crazy." 


By midday Wednesday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's "Insta- Check" 
background check — required for the sale of a firearm and typically about 8 
minutes long — was jammed with waits lasting more than two hours. 
Gun-shop owners and buyers said the urgency was fueled by Barack Obama's 
presidential win and Democrats' increasing their majority in Congress. 

"I'm here because of Obama," Wickham said. "I think he's misinterpreted the 
Second Amendment. It's not about the right to hunt. It's about the right to 
defend yourself." 

The Grand Junction pawnshop is decorated with bumper stickers: "Obama 08" 
with hammers and sickles on each end, "Obama for President of Afghanistan" 
and "Don't Be a Victim. Buy a Gun." 

Potential threats outlined 

Buyers, who were mostly going for assault rifles and handguns, were sighting 
them on the bumper stickers. 

Behind the cash register, a list issued by the National Rifle Association 
outlines the potential threats a President Obama would have on Second 
Amendment gun rights: prohibitive excise taxes on guns and ammunition, bans 
on sales and transfers of all semiautomatic weapons, bans on right-to-carry 
permits and more. 

One customer left with two new assault rifles and said he had already bought 
30 weapons since 

A variety of assault rifles and other guns sit on display at Jerry's Outdoor 
Sports in Grand Junction, Colo., Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008. (The Denver Post | 
Barton Glasser)Obama began his campaign for president. 
"And look at this," he said, unwrapping a black rifle from a plastic cover. 
"I'm not talking BB guns." 

Across Colorado, gun shops reported brisk business Wednesday as hunters and 
gun enthusiasts began to stockpile in anticipation of a Democratic president 
and Congress whittling away Second Amendment gun rights. The FBI is reporting 
that gun sales have increased 10 percent over purchases at this point last 
year. 

Jerry Stehman told an endless wave of customers at his Jerry's Outdoor Sports 
store in Grand Junction to come back in two hours to pick up their firearm 
purchases. For the past 10 days, Stehman said, customers have been gathering 
cases of ammunition and multiple guns. 

"We don't know where this character is coming from or what he's gonna do to 
us," Stehman said of Obama. "But I can tell you it's been good for business." 
The crush of business shows no signs of subsiding. 

"It will be extremely busy until Obama decides to do anything," said Richard 
Taylor, manager of Firing Line, which bills itself as Colorado's largest gun 
shop and has seen its stock of assault rifles dwindle from several dozen to a 
mere few in recent weeks. "And that's the real problem, the uncertainty of 
what he is going to do." 

Obama, who reportedly has never fired a gun, has followed Democratic Party 
lines in his Senate and Illinois statehouse votes regarding gun control. He 
supported the controversial handgun ban in Washington, D.C., which the 
Supreme Court shot down earlier this year. He has voted in favor of several 
gun-control measures and increasing taxes on ammunition and firearms. 

"A deep-rooted hatred" 

The 4 million-member NRA dedicated $15 million of its $40 million campaign 
this year to painting Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment. In a mass 
fundraising letter sent to members this summer, NRA president Wayne LaPierre 
wrote, "Never in NRA's history have we faced a presidential candidate — and 
hundreds of candidates running for other offices — with such a deep-rooted 
hatred of firearm freedoms." 

Obama's campaign, in a statement labeled "Supporting the rights and 
traditions of sportsmen," said he "will protect the rights of hunters and 
other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport and use guns." 

Gun owners worry that a Democratic administration and Congress would support 
a return to President Clinton's gun ban, which lasted 10 years before 
sunsetting in 2004. That ban prohibited magazines capable of holding more 
than 10 rounds and certain semiautomatic assault rifles with cosmetic 
features such as lugs for attaching a bayonet. 

"Not only are they likely to revisit the Clinton ban, they will possibly make 
it more restrictive by banning more types of firearms altogether," said Tony 
Fabian, a Castle Rock attorney and president of the Colorado State Shooting 
Association, which is the state's division of the NRA. 

Several gun-shop owners contacted by The Denver Post on Wednesday said sales 
had been exceptionally brisk in the past two months. 

"The avid gun owners are picking up items that were part of earlier bans or 
things the Democrats typically talk about when they talk about gun control. 
Anything semiautomatic. Magazines for more than 30 (rounds). Assault-type 
guns," said Tim Brough, owner of Rocky Mountain Shooters Supply in Fort 
Collins. "I think it's a legitimate concern. Democrats typically want to pass 
more gun legislation, and now you've got a House, Senate and Democratic 
president, so it seems likely we will see more gun regulation." 

Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins AT denverpost.com