AR Sellers Market

It isn't uncommon to see any number or type of firearm and/or accessory around my workplace.  Guns, cases, gun parts, magazines, ammo,  In fact, my boss has a little array of ammo on his desk - single rounds of a dozen or so sizes/types arranged in a little semi-circle on the corner of his desk.  I like to rearrange it into different, yet logical, patterns and orders to see if he can figure out what I have done.

No one I work with needs another gun.  That doesn't stop them from wanting.  And they love to shop for other people - find guns for them, sell guns for them, etc.

As the AR hysteria has set in, one of the guys at work was asked to buy a couple of guns for his son that lives in another state.  Wednesday he went to three gun stores, two sporting goods stores, and called several more.  There aren't any ARs to buy.  He spoke of walking up to gun counters that were wall to wall people.

There was serious talk of traveling for several hours to invest a considerable sum in, what apparently is, the last decent stock of ARs.  We were taking bets on how ridiculously crowded a local gun show will be this weekend.  We were comparing email newsletters from various dealers and outfitters that told us of the lack of stock.

And it isn't just here in north Texas, Google "AR sales" and there is story after story about the spike in sales:

Assault rifles are selling out faster than store owners can replace them in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.
Gun owners say the shooting and possible gun restrictions on the horizon have prompted people to buy the guns.

"We've really been selling a lot of them the last few days," said Broken Arrow Gun Shop Owner Pat Johnston.

You could see just about every gun in his store Wednesday except an assault rifle. The store owner had just sold the last one.

"Folks are telling us they would like to get one before the restrictions," said Johnston.

He's sold 21 assault rifles in the past two days. Johnston says on average he usually only sells two to three a month. He says now people just want to be protected.

Yeah, protected against the government.

Aberdeen gun shops can't keep up with demand for assault rifles over fears that new gun-control legislation could be passed by Congress.

 "All the dealers I get stuff from are running out; the stockpile is being depleted," said Lucas Young, owner of Young Guns at 1724 Sixth Ave. S.E.

And the manufacturers aren't taking orders:

On a national scene, Hermann said Ruger Arms stopping taking orders back in March. “They had a million back orders, and they’re working at full capacity, but they can’t fill all the requests so they stopped taking them.” He also noted that gun manufacturer Sig Sauer’s phone goes directly to an answering message that says they’ll try to call back within two to four days.

One can only hope that the people buying ARs are also calling their representatives and letting them know that they hold the 2nd Amendment dear, and that the government needs to quit talking about taking the guns away from the good people.