Obama: Don’t stock up on guns :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: 44: Barack Obama
As gun sales shoot up around the country, President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that gun-owning Americans do not need to rush out and stock up before he is sworn in next month.
“I believe in common-sense gun safety laws, and I believe in the second amendment,” Obama said at a news conference. “Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear. I said that throughout the campaign. I haven’t indicated anything different during the transition. I think people can take me at my word.”
But National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said it’s not Obama’s words — but his legislative track record — that has gun-buyers flocking to the stores.
“Prior to his campaign for president, his record as a state legislator and as a U.S. Senator shows he voted for the most stringent forms of gun control, the most Draconian legislation, gun bans, ammunition bans and even an increase in federal excise taxes up to 500 percent for every gun and firearm sold,” Arulanandam said.
Trust - but verify. And buy lots of guns anyway. It’s your American duty.
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And if you can’t afford it, get the gummint to help pay for ‘em. Link from Hit and Run.
I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t actually own a firearm at this time. The laws here in Novy Jerzistan are convoluted and draconian to the point that I haven’t taken the time to grapple with them.
Anyone from NJ have any advice on what can and cannot be done within the laws of our wonderful utopia?
I don’t yet, either. Partially due to residual fear from my liberal days, partially because I live in a dorm which may have regulations about weapons, partially because I have no training or experience whatsoever, and partially because I’ve been lucky enough to not have an experience that drives home the importance of self-defense. Of course, I know that I might not survive when the experience comes. I’m considering taking my mother with me to a crash course, since she’s more or less in the same boat as me and has also talked about getting armed.
Cayley take a concealed carry course if they offer one in your area. That’ll cover all the basics and your state and local firearms laws and restrictions. And a good course will include range time.
Leave?
Is that a can, or a cannot? (Note half-assed reference to Hotel California….)
It was meant to be deliberately ambiguous, but I should have done it better.
And I wasn’t thinking Hotel California, though that was a good notion. I had in mind more like the way the USSR used to be and the USA is now, where you can’t leave without forking over a good chunk of your current wealth, and they’ll still claim a good chunk of your earnings for a decade. Sure, there would be constitutional issues raised if a state were to try something like that, but it’s only a matter of time before the trial balloons are floated.
Mm, I think California already tries to do something like that….
I did some research and it turns out that NJ is not so bad about long guns. They require a Firearms ID to be issued by your local PD, and there are transportation restrictions, but it’s not too crazy otherwise. Handguns are another matter entirely, as handgun permits must be acquired for each weapon, and the local PDs are notorious for turning ‘may issue’ into ‘no way, Jose’ via foot-dragging and bureaucratic nonsense.
The only guns I have any significant experience firing are .22 rifles and single-barrel pump-action shotguns. The .22 is a squirrel gun, not good for much other than target shooting. The shotgun, OTOH, seems to be more useful for home defense.
So if I’m looking for something that’s relatively easy to master and to maintain, fun to shoot, and could be used to defend against a home invasion in a pinch, is a shotgun my best bet?
Martin, if I could have only one home defense weapon, it would be a Remington 12 gauge 870 shotgun of some sort. Needless to say, I do have one such.
Now is a good time to put in a plug for
“In The Gravest Extreme” by my favorite gun author, Massad Ayoob.
If you’re even remotely considering self defense with a firearm, please read this book.
Don’t forget, you’re going to need ammo for those guns. Better stock up now just in case (yeah, I know we just went by National Ammo Day, but I see no reason not to consider every day national ammo day).
I agree about the shotgun for home defense. A pump or semi auto load 12 gauge with five rounds of triple ought buck shot is deadly in the hands of someone who knows how..and is not afraid..to use it.