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发帖数: 10345 | 3 The Denver Post is reporting today that gun sales in Colorado have spiked 41
percent since the shooting at the Century 16 theater in Aurora last Friday.
And the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reports that its approval of
background checks for new firearms purchasers jumped 43 percent within the
last four days.
In spite of claims by high profile news media personalities such as Piers
Morgan and politicians such as U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., that the
nation's "lax gun laws" cause such massacres, American citizens do not seem
to be buying it.
Instead, Americans appear to believe that owning and carrying a gun is the
best protection a citizen can be afforded in this era in which criminals
find a way to get grenades, explosives, and other weaponry in spite of
strict gun control laws like those in Aurora, Colo.
The sharp increase in firearms sales in Colorado is part of a nationwide
trend that has been occurring since the summer of 2008. At that time
citizens appeared to be bracing for what they perceived to be an assault on
their Second Amendment rights that Barack Obama would launch as soon as he
ascended to the presidency.
Obama's voting record as a state senator in Illinois and as a U.S. senator
in Washington indicated a troubling anti-gun mentality, although he admitted
that enacting more gun control and firearms bans at the federal level is
very unlikely due to little public support.
Although Obama has steered clear of the gun issue for the most part, except
for the U.N. small arms treaty, the trend that began in the summer of 2008
has only continued. The gun and ammunition industry is one of a tiny number
of enterprises that not only escaped the economic downturn of 2008 but
thrived with record sales.
Most states report hefty increases in gun and ammo sales, applications for
concealed carry permits, and citizens seeking training in the handling of
firearms.
And when violent crime explodes onto the national radar screen, such as the
shootings in Colorado, Americans across the country appear to take such
incidents as ample motivation to arm themselves, given that law enforcement
cannot provide protection during these occurrences.
For example, following the Tucson massacre in 2011 during which U.S. Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was severely injured, background checks for new
gun purchasers shot up by 60 percent.
The fact that law enforcement cannot be everywhere at once led one sheriff
last year to encourage women to guy guns, apply for training and concealed
carry licenses, and take their guns with them in response to a sudden
increase in violent assaults on women in his jurisdiction.
Sheriff Chuck Wright of Spartanburg County, S.C. told this reporter in a
special interview at the time that his concern was for the victims of crime
who more often than not do not have the luxury of waiting for law
enforcement to arrive in order to save their lives.
The sheriff's comments, which were reported nationally in several media
outlets, led to an overwhelming increase in applications for concealed carry
licenses in the county. One firearms instructor stated that the demand was
so great that he was forced to hire extra instructors.
Persons who receive training for concealed carry permits are instructed in
basic firearms safety and taught how to handle a gun, including
demonstrating the ability to shoot with some degree of accuracy. |
