To Give Credit Where Due

Make no mistake about it – Barack Obama’s been a disastrous president.  The only parts of his administration that have worked – the hunt for Bin Laden – he inherited primarily from George W. Bush.  His foreign policy has made the US an epic laughingstock.  And his domestic policy has nobody laughing.  His claim last week that the private sector is “doing fine” is emblematic of his Antoinette-y disconnect from real life in this country.

But he’s had one epic domestic policy success – one great shining success story that has made life better in this country, that has created good private-sector manufacturing and entrepreneurial jobs, and that has required no federal stimulus money whatsoever.  Far from it, in fact.

Barack Obama has spurred an epic boom in the American firearms industry, as Real Americans – genuinely and rightfully fearful that an administration that spent millions and sacrificed a federal agent in an attempt to smear the law-abiding gun owner – stock up on firearms against an unfettered second Obama term.

The fact that this boom in gun ownership coincides with a sharp drop in violent crime…

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that violent crime decreased 4 percent in 2011. The number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults all went down, continuing a pattern.

…may just be coincidental – correlation doesn’t equal causation.  But we know better than that.

“This is not a one-year anomaly, but a steady decline in the FBI’s violent-crime rates,” said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. “It would be disingenuous for anyone to not credit increased self-defense laws to account for this decline.”

Mr. Arulanandam pointed out that only a handful of states had concealed-carry programs 25 years ago, when the violent-crime rate peaked. Today, 41 states either allow carrying without a permit or have “shall issue” laws that make it easy for just about any noncriminal to get a permit. Illinois and Washington, D.C., are the only places that refuse to recognize the right to bear arms. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence did not respond to requests for comment.

They never do.

If the gun grabbers were right, we’d be in the middle of a crime wave, considering how many guns are on the streets. “Firearms sales have increased substantially since right after the 2008 election,” said Bill Brassard, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which represents the $4 billion firearms and ammunition industry. “There was a leveling off in 2010, but now we’re seeing a surge again.”

And as more Real Americans of all races, genders and orientations strap up – there were 16.5 million checks of the NICS database last year – not only has crime dropped, but the firearms industry has become one private enterprise that is, er, “doing fine”:

Sturm, Ruger & Co. sold 1 million firearms in the first quarter of 2012 – an amazing 50 percent increase from the first quarter of 2011. The jump was so steep that the company stopped accepting orders from March to May to catch up with demand for its products.

Last month, Smith & Wesson announced a firearm-order backlog of approximately $439 million by the end of April, up 135 percent from the same quarter in 2011. Sales in that period were up 28 percent from 2011 and 14 percent over its own predictions to investors. NSSF estimates the industry is responsible for approximately 180,000 jobs and has an annual impact on the U.S. economy of $28 billion.

So kudos to you, President Obama!  At least your policies are having one positive benefit.

And only one.

14 thoughts on “To Give Credit Where Due

  1. “The only parts of his administration that have worked – the hunt for Bin Laden – he inherited primarily from George W. Bush.”

    Haha! Yeah, Bush got the whole “7 1/2 years of abject failure” thing out of the way so Obama could get the job done.

    Yet another Mission Accomplished by the Bestest President Evah!

  2. A little early to be hitting the crack pipe, isn’t ac?

    Also worth mentioning, a Minnesota based firearms company, DPMS Panther Arms in St. Cloud, also has a two month back order on their fine weapons. Gotta love capitalism at its finest.

  3. I remember angryclown! Doesn’t he live in that city where 20oz soft drinks are illegal, and you need a permit to carry a salt shaker?

  4. well, Kermit, ac is perfectly fine with that! He needed his government to intervene for him and force him to go on a diet.

  5. C’mon. Those uneducated lard-asses in NY need somebody like Bloomberg to stop them from making bad decisions.

  6. Bush got the whole “7 1/2 years of abject failure” thing out of the way

    In the same way that Thomas Edison got 2,000-odd failed incandescent light filaments “out of the way” before the right one worked.

  7. Lard-asses? Angryclown has been to Minnesota. Don’t think that’s a fight you can win. They call ’em the twin cities cause all your ladies are double-wides.

  8. Mitch also thinks James Buchanan was responsible for freeing the slaves and Herbert Hoover for winning World War II.

  9. Angryclown can agree that Bush exhausted every unsuccessful approach available – starting wars with unrelated countries, pulling back from Tora Bora, simple inattention – before Obama came along and, you know, ordered the Seals to put a bullet in his chest. You’re right. Shrub is the real hero.

  10. “James Buchanan” – Democrat.

    “Herbert Hoover” – Moderate Republican.

  11. Is Angry Clown to form a coherent argument? Gosh! The way he throws out random statements is almost cute!

  12. Mussolini, elected at the head of a mass class and youth movement, nationalized Italian health care and other industries, and spent in immense deficit during an economic downturn, shredding the Italian economy.

    The only way Mussolini could be more like Obama were if his motto had been “Si, Possiamo“.

  13. Pingback: Observations | Shot in the Dark

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