Nonmedical.
Today at the range, the resident instructor told me the following:
- sales and traffic volume are still very high (historic)
- old regulars now coming in more frequently
- Private lessons are way up
and
- lots of new visitors who haven’t shot for decades who want to refresh their knowledge.
I’ll leave the analysis to you.
Fear of social disorder and of collapse of the usual mechanisms of law enforcement. The drumbeat of bad news stories south of the border doesn’t help.
That sounds about right. I see a snake on a yellow background with bold words saying “Don’t Tread on Me”.
It’s funny…down there in the States everyone is “stockpiling” and relearning their shooting skills. Up here in Alaska, nothing much has changed. Of course, we started things off right. A good portion of the population carries and it’s not uncommon to see a guy walk into the grocery store with a rifle across his back (if you are snow machining you need protection from the bears, wolves, moose, etc. and handguns are not easily accessible at -40). Though even up here there was a shortage of AR-15 lowers before the election and inauguration, not a single one at the past few gun shows.
Besides the gun aspects Alaska is also great because protein is so plentiful. You have to be a pretty poor sportsman (or sportswoman in my case) not catch your limit of salmon and get a moose or caribou every year. And I’m not a backwoods type girl – average busy college student. It’s nice to look in the deep freeze and realize that your grocery bill is cut in half and you have a higher quality of food (farmed salmon is disgusting when compared to AK wild caught – even the pinks which are usually only used for canning).
So I got a little off topic…sorry.
As soon as we move back to Texas we are planning to get guns also. We live in post housing right now (hubby is a PA in the Army)and they require you to keep it so locked up it’s not worth it.
Sounds like nothing more than infectious anxiety. This happened to some extent in the days of the civil rights movement, and we certainly didn’t see any outcome that seemed to make this a sane idea.
But we have plenty of news stories about someone getting angry at his ex-wife/ex-girlfriend/neighbor/boss and killing at will.
My local WalMart ran out of .45 cal ball last week; weird. I try to hit the range every month and have begun to think about buying an AR. Other than the shotgun I inherited when my father died I don’t have any long weapons. I briefly considered an AK but they are too heavy and I lugged one form or another of the AR for 28 years so I’m more comfortable with them.
For years, WalMart was the largest retailer of guns, ammo, and cigarettes in the US. I’m assuming they still are.
A public health factoid: The biggest risk factor for being shot by a gun is owning a gun.
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