Americans Flock to Gun Stores in June, Thanks to Congress

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, July 8, 2016:  

In June there were more gun purchase background checks than at any time recorded since the odious background check system was set up in 1998 as part of the Brady bill that Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994. More than two million Americans sought approval from the government to buy a firearm. Many, no doubt, involved the purchase of more than one, and most were likely driven by anxiety over Congress’s inability to fight terrorism. As Islamic terrorists zero in on America, Congress is, to put the matter kindly, flailing about in its efforts to do anything substantive over the threat.

Instead, in their desire to appear to be doing “something,” especially in an election year, they are willing to do “anything,” even if it’s counterproductive and violates precious constitutional rights of people not connected in any way with the increase in terrorism on American soil.

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, put it well:

As I have been predicting for months, we are going to keep on breaking records through the November election. Obama, Clinton, and Bloomberg’s anti-rights rhetoric is driving more and more people to gun stores.

Gottlieb got it mostly right. Threats to liberties by people like Obama, Clinton, Bloomberg, et al, are real. But those threats also exist in the House and the Senate, mostly by posturing Republicans (which control both houses) seeking reelection.

An instant example, though certainly not the only one, is the promise by House Speaker Paul Ryan following the sit-in by radicals John Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, and others last month that neither he nor the House would be held hostage by them over the matter of gun control. He even sounded positively Constitutional:

We’re not going to take away a citizen’s constitutional rights without due process…. People have individual guaranteed rights [in the] Second Amendment. That is what the Constitution requires, and we’re going to stick with the Constitution.

That was on June 22. On June 30 he pulled a switch, announcing that he would allow votes on an “anti-terrorist” package of bills this week, including several that would violate those precious rights he so vociferously defended eight days earlier.

Especially egregious was a bill inside that package that looks awfully much like the Cornyn bill that the Senate defeated last month, and its compromise look-alike bill from “Republican” Susan Collins. Simply put, the Cornyn and the Collins bills, along with the one buried in Ryan’s package, would suspend constitutional rights to keep and bear arms while a court determines if that suspension is ok or not. In one fell swoop, the bill buried in Ryan’s package would declare a suspect guilty until proven innocent.

The suspects’ names would be gleaned from the million or so already on one or more of the government’s watch lists. Think of that! A million already on those lists. Question: if they’re on a list why isn’t Justice doing something about them? Second question: are there really a million terrorists inside the United States just waiting for an opportunity?

Instead, Congress wants to expand the list to include more innocents. With the inevitable ratchet effect – called “mission creep” – just how long before every living soul in the country is on one or more watch lists?

As Americans become more and more aware that the attack on terrorism is serving as a device to take away their precious rights, they are heading to the gun store to exercise one of the most precious before the window closes. Thanks not only to Clinton, Obama, Bloomberg, and Lewis but also help from Ryan, McConnell, and the Republican establishment, those background checks are just going to continue to set records into the future.

Sources:

Washington Examiner: Ryan: No vote on gun bills that ignore due process

Yahoo.com: Congress Prepares for the Next Gun Control Fight

Washington Post: A new chapter of the gun-control showdown coming to the House this week

Free Beacon: June Gun Sales Crush Previous Record

USAToday: House returns to resume a bitter fight over gun control

The New American: Progressive Democrats Shut Down House Over Gun Control Demands

Background on the Second Amendment Foundation