As Barack Obama leaves office, having failed to pass his gun control schemes, there is insult added to injury in that California has reported for the first time that more than a million guns were sold last year in the Golden State.
But possibly the greater insult is to the American taxpayer, who gets stuck with a huge bill; the national debt has skyrocketed by more than $9,335,000,000,000, according to CNS News and data from the Treasury Department. The man who rode into office on a promise of “hope and change” is departing quite possibly hoping nobody notices that he didn’t leave the people any change, not even a penny to spare.
The firearms industry his policies seemed designed to crush is thriving, as people attending this week’s Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show can attest. The SHOT Show closes Friday in a celebratory mood: Obama is gone and Donald Trump — with a pro-Second Amendment outlook — takes his place.
And according to the Sacramento Bee, even in a state with such heavy restrictions as California, gun sales are thriving. Here’s what the newspaper said:
“Last year marked the first time that more than 1 million guns were sold in California in a single year. Long gun sales accounted for the bulk of the rise: Sales doubled from 2015 to almost 760,000. And handgun sales continued what has been a nearly unbroken rise over the decade. Sales rose 18 percent from 2015, to about 573,000.”
What that says about Obama and his tattered Democratic Party seems simple enough for a child to understand, so why don’t adult Democrats?
Bottom line: The party, or at least its leadership, is out of touch with average citizens. Tell people they can’t have certain types of firearms, they will jam the gun shops to buy them up.
More importantly, tell people they’re deeper in debt than they were eight years ago, and they are going to vote for a dramatic change.
Hillary Clinton evidently didn’t understand that. She took voters in too many key states for granted. She called people “deplorables” for believing in the Second Amendment and family values. She expected to be guest of honor at a coronation rather than a spectator at an inauguration.
There will be much reflection in the days ahead. Perhaps the prospect of a more conservative Congress and federal courts, including a Supreme Court, might rein in some legislatures.
But for many, what they describe as “a long nightmare” is over.
Now the work really begins for such organizations as the National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation. Rolling back decades of restrictive gun laws takes time and money; efforts in the legislatures, Congress and the courts.
Now is not the time for Second Amendment activists to roll up their tents and go home. Many say it is time to take the offense; remind Republicans who put them in control, and wage legal battles against restrictive laws that do not stand up to constitutional scrutiny.
As one observer noted this week in Las Vegas, gun owners have the momentum, so they should not be complacent. They’ve got a chance to make things right. Don’t blow it.
