The Beat Goes On: At the Terry Road Pawn Shop in Jackson, military-style long guns don't stay in the cases long. What's more, it has become increasingly difficult during the last few months for owner Kevin McDonald to stock his shop with auto-loading rifles such as AR-15s and SKSes. "The demand has gotten so high, I don't think the manufacturers can make them fast enough to keep everybody supplied," McDonald said. "Often when we get them, we go ahead and sell them online because we can sell them at retail price or better." Mississippi apparently is not immune to the national surge in gun sales in response to the election of Democratic President Barack Obama and widespread speculation over a possible reinstated federal ban on assault weapons, based on the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics. FBI gun checks, an indication of gun sales because they are required for purchases, numbered more than 181,000 in the state 2008 - the highest yearly total since 1999... http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904250334 In the words of one Berkshire County gun shop owner, "gun sales have been through the roof" in recent months. Indeed, sales of firearms in the United States began to rise in the lead-up to the November 2008 presidential election, including here in Democratic Massachusetts - long viewed as a bastion for liberal, anti-gun politics. And they continued to soar for the first three months of 2009, according to the FBI's National Criminal Investigative Service, which performs background checks on people seeking to carry firearms. The FBI noticed a particular spike during election week when polls indicated Democrat Barack Obama had pulled ahead of Republican John McCain in the race for the White House... (This particular paper in Massachusetts is not even aware that firearm purchases are screened through the National Instant Check System.) http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_12230771?source=most_viewed&_requestid=1611255 A presidential portrait adorns the corridor between the gun shop and firing range at the Bullet Hole, a Belleville landmark. Out front, rifles line the wall, muzzles pointed skyward. Revolvers sit in locked glass cases, some basic black, others fashion pink. Old Glory is everywhere, along with military flags, eagle murals and other patriotic decor. Owner Manny Cerca says the country is facing an identity crisis and he's weary of change. That's why President Obama isn't the leader in the picture atop the doorway. Cerca still looks up to a photo of George W. Bush. "I'm fed up with the new administration," says Cerca, 64, and especially concerned about his Second Amendment right to own a gun. "Obama is a European socialist." ...A State Police spokesman estimates the number of applications to obtain firearms has doubled over the past five months. Nationwide, FBI background checks for permits totaled 1.5 million in November, the highest figure since they began tracking the stats in 1998. The number includes first-time buyers and owners expanding their collection... http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/gun_buffs_are_buying_lock_stoc.html (According to a couple of informal gun-show reports I have received from different parts of the country this past weekend, it sounds as though prices are starting to plateau or fall back on some autoloading rifles and pistols but ammo prices for the more popular calibers remain high, with handgun ammo particularly scarce.) --- Tennessee Permit Revocations: In it's latest attempt to derail the concealing of permit holder information, the AP has come up with the worst that it could find about the Tennessee Handgun Carry permits. So far (unlike here in Arkansas) nothing has worked. The latest is this, KTHV is only too happy to comply, "Nearly 1,200 Tennesseans have had their state-issued handgun carry permits revoked or suspended for running afoul of the law over the last four years." ...Thats out of 339,000 permits by the way, which means the permits that were revoked were only a whopping .35 percent of permit holders. That's not even one half of one percent. The AP doesn't want to give you that piece of information because they don't want you to draw the obvious conclusion... http://www.arkansascca.org/blog/?content=detail&id=470 --- New York Democrats Seek Republican Support: Sponsors of a measure that would require handgun permits to be renewed every five years are courting an unlikely ally: State Senator Tom Libous, a Republican from Binghamton. State Senator Eric Schneiderman reached out to Libous in light of the fact that Jiverly Wong, the gunman responsible for a massacre at the American Civic Association that killed people 13 people earlier this month, may have had his guns taken away under the provisions of the bill. The measure, which is co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, would require handgun permits to be renewed every five years, as is currently the case on Long Island... (Remember that in many parts of New York a pistol permit may simply allow the ownership, not the carry of the handgun.) http://www.politickerny.com/3237/reaching-out-libous-gun-bill Related Commentary: http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904250311 --- Doh!: George Fath moved to his mobile home in rural Steuben County two months ago. The previous owners left a lot of trash in the yard, so Fath was cleaning up Thursday afternoon. That's when he found a 22 caliber bullet in the yard. He didn't want his three young boys to get hurt from the bullet, so Fath decided to dispose of it. "My hammer was outside so I took the bullet and put it on a rock and smacked it with the hammer," Fath said. Fath wasn't expecting the bullet to fire. "It went off and went into my belly and knocked me on my butt," Fath said. Fath said he thought he was shot in the stomach. His wife called 911. According to the police report the bullet didn't actually hit Fath... (A rimfire round, such as a .22, is much more likely than a centerfire round to be fired in this manner; the latter would probably require something like a nail to strike the primer. With the case unsupported by a firing chamb, full velocity will not be achieved but it's still not something to try at home.) http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local_wane_steuben_county_man_fires_bullet_with_hammer_200904241621 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .