60 per cent hike in backlog orders as gun stores report record monthly sales
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Friday, March 9, 2012
Prolonged economic uncertainty is not proving too much of a challenge for firearms makers like Smith & Wesson, whose shares today soared 18 per cent after the company announced a 60 per cent surge in backlog orders, demand driven by a prevailing belief that Barack Obama will launch a crackdown on the second amendment if he wins a second term in the White House.
“Shares in Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (SWHC.O) shot up nearly 18 percent to their highest in more than two years on Friday, after the gun maker hiked its full-year sales forecast on a higher order backlog, reflecting strong demand for its guns and rifles,” reports Reuters.
The company’s shares have gained more than 26 percent since the beginning of this year as a result of profits outperforming estimates in four consecutive quarters.
Gun sales are being driven by a combination of factors, including fear of rising crime caused by economic turmoil, but primarily as an insurance policy against a second Obama term, which gun enthusiasts fear will be used as a lame duck tool to gut second amendment rights.
Gun stores are reporting a record number of sales for the month of February, with suggestions that Obama stands a good chance of winning re-election causing firearm and ammunition shortages nationwide.
“Look who the Republicans are trying to put against Obama,” DeWayne Irwin, owner of the Cheaper Than Dirt gun store told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It’s the Keystone Kops and people are getting scared. People are terrified he’s going to get re-elected and then he won’t care about getting votes next time. He’ll just pass whatever legislation he wants.”
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre even suggested during a CPAC speech last month that Obama was deliberately playing it low key on the second amendment during his first term so that he could put conservatives to sleep on the issue and then come out fighting.
“All that first term, lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term,” said LaPierre.
As we reported back in November 2008 just before Obama took office, the perceived anti-gun agenda of a President backed by a Democrat-controlled House and Senate prompted a record surge in firearms purchases.
Just over a month later it emerged that the administration had been sending guns to Mexican drug gangs via the “Fast and Furious” program while simultaneously blaming border violence on the second amendment.
2010 FBI records and Google Trends research indicated that the surge in firearms purchases was also being driven by first time gun buyers who were concerned about rising crime and the potential for an economic collapse.
Americans’ lack of confidence in their leadership is so fervent that they are now “pre-revolutionary,” according to pollster Pat Caddell. This threat of civil disorder, allied with an armed population, has prompted authorities to prepare for the worst, with the US military on standby for what the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Institute describes in a report as “strategic shock.”
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” stated the report, authored by [Ret.] Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, adding that the military may be needed to quell “purposeful domestic resistance”.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
With over 10 million guns sold in the United States in 2011, violent crime rising significantly as the economic crisis worsens, and self defense killings sky rocketing, it’s becoming increasingly unpopular for politicians to call for restrictions on firearms. If anything, even though government officials in states like Illinois and New Jersey are attempting to outlaw guns completely, the public outcry has been deafening, with each attempt met by protests and solidarity from individual rights and gun advocates all over the country.
It’s clear that the majority of Americans support their inherent right to bear arms. But, even though the strategy of attacking our second Amendment is wholly unpopular and failing miserably, misguided government officials are beginning to explore ever more novel ways of circumventing the US Constitution and Second Amendment altogether.
Like New Jersey’s recent attempt to ban ammunition, Illinois is now taking aim at ammo. This latest legislation would add a surtax to every box of ammunition sold, and if allowed, would set an alarming precedent that effectively threatens our ability to utilize a firearm for its intended purpose...[Full Article]
TIME Magazine appointed The Protester as the person of the year in 2011. Perhaps next year the winner will be The Woman With a Shotgun. After all, the media is now saluting such women.
In December, a 22-year-old Minnesota woman was home alone with morning sickness. She was nine weeks pregnant and her boyfriend was away.
She heard strange noises outside, the dogs began barking, and the doorbell rang about 50 times extremely fast. Someone was clearly checking to see who, if anyone, was home.
Her quick thinking led her to ready the 12-gauge. The burglars kicked open the kitchen door and heard a strange noise themselves.
A top official with the National Rifle Association said Friday that President Obama will move to "destroy" gun rights and "erase" the Second Amendment if he is re-elected in November.
While delivering one of the liveliest and best-received speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said the president's low-key approach to gun rights during his first term was "a "conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep."
"All that first term, lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term," he said.
"We see the president's strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms' freedom, erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution."...[Full Article]
There is nothing more disgusting or detestable than a citizen informant. Without citizen informants, tyrants could never retain the kind of power they wield. In fact, without citizen informants, totalitarian movements would never gain traction. This is why EVERY functional oligarchy throughout history has implemented programs designed to encourage the development of common spies, using the promise of monetary reward, or collective recognition.
Sadly, there are many in our society that would gladly sell out their closest friends and family to the tortures of authoritarian bureaucracy for nothing more than a firm pat on the head and a few fiat dollars. If there was ever a more degraded lot of bottom feeding opportunist scum, the citizen informant is the very epitome.
With the implementation of the “See Something, Say Something” program, and the increasing drive by the White House to institute community watch efforts to route out “extremists”, showcased quite clearly in strategic outlines like the ‘Empowering Local Partners To Prevent Violent Extremism In The United States’:
The issue of informant networking has come to the forefront in America. My personal view is that these nauseating and diseased people should be treated as treasonous as any globalist, regardless of stated intention. That said, in an environment rife with extraneous poverty, informancy cannot be avoided. Plenty of men and women, stricken with empty wallets and bellies, are extraordinarily prone to betrayal, regardless of their inherent morality. This is the kind of world we will soon be living in, and this is the kind of environment that corrupt officials like those in New Jersey are prone to exploit. Pathetic, weak, cowardly, but ultimately dangerous sheep unknowingly serving the very men who would seek to enslave them.
In terms of 2nd Amendment rights, I find the very idea of debate rather pointless. The logic is undeniable. If you cannot defend yourself, you are a victim. Period. You become food for predators and parasites. Any state government or national government which actively seeks to disarm its citizens is suspect. I couldn’t care less about their stated rationalizations or rhetoric. In New Jersey, in Chicago, in Washington D.C., or anywhere else for that matter, an innocent man who is disarmed by law will always be victimized by an outlaw who armed through criminality. The concept of reduced crime through gun confiscation is so naïve it warrants considerable analysis. Through such efforts, good men are left defenseless, while evil men are free to wreak havoc.
The 2nd Amendment is not a negotiable or debatable pillar of the Constitution. It is absolute in its protection. Every American, regardless of the temporary circumstances of the times, is free to arm and defend himself from ANY enemy, from average criminals, to government thugs. The gun confiscation program featured in the video below, and instituted by officials in New Jersey, should not be taken lightly. The pure idiocy inherent in its premise cannot be ignored. New Jersey’s willingness to pay off potential informants could very well be a petri dish test for much more expansive programs across the country in the future. If we cannot stop the corruption and anti-constitutionalism of a pathetic state like New Jersey, then how can we expect to disrupt the same brand of corruption throughout the U.S.?...[Full Article]
Americans bought record numbers of guns last month amid an apparent surge in popularity for weapons as Christmas presents.
UK Telegraph
According to the FBI, over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.
It was the highest number ever in a single month, surpassing the previous record set in November.
On Dec 23 alone there were 102,222 background checks, making it the second busiest single day for buying guns in history.
The actual number of guns bought may have been even higher if individual customers took home more than one each.
Explanations for America's surge in gun buying include that it is a response to the stalled economy with people fearing crime waves. Another theory is that buyers are rushing to gun shops because they believetighter firearms laws will be introduced in the future.
The National Rifle Association said people were concerned about self defence because police officer numbers were declining. ...[Full Article]
Shortly after 6PM Tuesday, a 22-year-old Akron man was robbed inside of his Triplett Boulevard home by three punks armed with handguns.
This, after he advertised an X-Box on Craigslist.
One suspect arrived at John Ruggiero's house and wanted to look at the X-Box to see if the game system worked. The suspect then used his cell phone to call a friend to bring him money.
Within minutes, two other men stormed inside Ruggiero's house, armed with handguns, and robbed him of $85. As the suspects were robbing Ruggiero, he pulled out his own handgun and fired several shots at the suspects. The suspects fled in a white, 4-door car...[Full Article]
The hunt is on for a suspect behind a shooting linked to Craigslist.
John Ruggiero listed a special edition Halo Xbox on Craigslist, and a young man came to his home to check it out. The buyer called his friend on his cell phone to bring the money. Instead, two thugs ran inside the home, waving a gun.
They told John to get on hiis knees, they took 85 dollars out of his pockets-- than that's when things went horribly wrong for the crooks.
"He said put your hands behind your back and that's where my gun was" said Ruggiero.
The men saw John's dogs, but they were caged up. Even so, John took control of the situation when the thugs turned around. "As soon as he turned his head, I stood up, stepped back right here and fired two shots at him."
Two of the bad guys went to the hospital, and that's when police connected them to the Craigslist robbery. In custody are 18 year old Jeremy Culver and 20 year old Shawn Davis. The third thief is still on the loose.
The 22 year old, a registered gun owner, has never shot at a person before. Is he sorry he did now? "You are going to put a gun on my forehead, in my house, trying to steal all my stuff? Of course I am going to shoot you, I don't feel bad about it, it's your fault."
Trillions of electrons – and tens of thousands of gallons of ink, before that – have been spilled in the never-ending debate over stopping power. People have nearly come to blows over which caliber is the most effective. It seems safe to assume that the majority of shooters are convinced that bigger is always better. “I wouldn’t be caught dead carrying anything with a caliber that doesn’t start with a 4.” How many times have you read that one? Or heard it at the range? I’m a photographer and the same thing happens when the question is cameras. Nikon, Canon, Leica, Hassy, yadda, yadda, yadda. But as it turns out, guns are very much like cameras. No matter what the brand – or caliber – the one you have with you is always better than the one you don’t…[Full Article]
ROCKLIN (CBS13) — If you’ve pulled the trigger on a new firearm this holiday season, join the club.
As in your neighborhood shooting club, because faster than a speeding bullet, guns are going out the door.
Well, not right away, of course — there is that 10-day waiting period, 11 here at TDS Guns in Rocklin, where Bob Norgard wasn’t caught off-guard.
He’s making his purchase today so he’ll have his firearm under the Christmas tree as he joins a growing number of people who say they’re simply “doing what they need to do to protect themselves and their family.”
This surge in gun sales — the best holiday sales season in three years, according to the Firearms Dealers Association — got a shot in the arm on Black Friday.
“Black Friday sales were off the charts this year,” a TDS employee said.
FBI stats show the number of background checks done on Black Friday three years ago pales in comparison to the number done this year — a 32-percent jump...[Full Article]
WASHINGTON — US firearms sales reached a record 129,166 during last week's Black Friday that kicked off the holiday shopping season, a 32 percent increase from the previous all-time high, officials said.
The FBI confirmed the jump from the last peak of 97,848 weapons sold during Black Friday of 2008, telling AFP that "we do not have an explanation for the increase."...[Full Article]
Want to improve the caliber of your family’s Christmas card this year? How about having your picture taken with Santa Claus and your choice of machine guns?
For a fee of $5 for members and $10 for non-members, the Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona will arrange a Yuletide photo op with Santa and a selection of automatic weapons valued at $170,000...[Full Article]
The 5.56mm M-16 has been the USA’s primary battle rifle since the Vietnam war, undergoing changes into progressive versions like the M16A4 widely fielded by the US Marine Corps, “Commando” carbine versions, etc. The M4 Carbine is the latest member of the M16 family, offering a shorter weapon more suited to close-quarters battle, or use by units who would find a full-length rifle too bulky.
In 2006 an Army solicitation for competitive procurement of 5.56mm carbine designs was withdrawn, once sole-source incumbent Colt dropped its prices. The DoD’s Inspector General weighed in with a critical report, but the Army dissented, defending its practices as a sound negotiating approach that saved the taxpayers money. As it turns out, there’s a sequel. A major sequel, that’s only getting bigger with time.
The M4/M16 family is both praised and criticized for its current performance in the field. In recent years, the M4 finished dead last in a sandstorm reliability test, against 3 competitors that include a convertible M4 variant. Worse, the 4th place M4 had over 3.5x more jams than the 3rd place finisher. Was that a blip in M4 buys, or a breaking point? DID explains the effort, the issues, and the options, as the Army moves forward with an “Individual Carbine” competition. But will it actually replace the M4?...[Full Article]
A South Carolina sheriff is making the extraordinary suggestion that local women arm themselves following the attempted rape of a woman at a local park, saying, "you need to protect yourself."
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, the county's top law enforcement officer since 2005, suggested local women apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon during a news conference Monday about the attack on Sunday at Milliken Park in Spartanburg...[Full Article]
A new poll indicates that more and more people now have guns in their homes, and that America's attitude towards gun-control may be shifting.
According to a new Gallup poll, 47 percent of Americans report having a gun on their property, up from 41 percent a year ago.
It's the highest number Gallup has recorded since 1993.
The poll also found that 53 percent of Americans oppose a ban on assault rifles and semiautomatic guns - the first time more have opposed than supported a ban...[Full Article]
A measure to bar Californians from openly carrying weapons is supported by Sheriff Baca and LAPD Chief Beck, but opposed by 2nd Amendment activists who pack heat in coffee shops and restaurants.
Tammy Cude of San Pedro wears a banana in her gun holster as she passes a Redondo Beach police officer while participating in a South Bay Open Carry event at Redondo Beach Pier. The group was prohibited from carrying firearms, even unloaded, on the pier. (Christina House / For the Los Angeles Times / August 7, 2010)
Reporting from Sacramento—
On Gov. Jerry Brown's desk is a bid to bar Californians from openly carrying firearms, legislation that could open a new front in the state's decades-old gun control debate.
The measure, aimed at an increasingly popular tactic used by 2nd Amendment activists, would make California the first state since 1987 to outlaw the controversial practice of publicly displaying a weapon.
The governor — a gun owner — has not taken an official position on the bill, passed by the Legislature last week. He has argued both sides of gun control issues in the past.
Existing law allows the open carrying of unloaded firearms. The measure before Brown would thwart activists who stage "open carry" demonstrations and want, ultimately, the right to legally display loaded guns. Such aficionados drew national attention last year when they walked into Starbucks outlets in the Bay Area and elsewhere, pistols holstered on their hips.
Participants in the open-carry movement, contending it is a way to show that normal people pack heat, take advantage of most states' relative silence about the practice. Only seven states, including Illinois and Texas, prohibit the open toting of guns, and most of their laws were adopted in the 1980s or decades earlier, according to the Legal Community Against Violence and other groups involved in the debate...[Full Article]
Below is the Fri. July 29 article by Paul Joseph Watson and Aaron Dykes exposing the larger program. This new mandate by the ATF– imposed without law via executive policy– clearly undermines the 2nd Amendment by conditioning the public that buying guns is illicit.
Placing suspicion on the purchase of more than two guns, filling out purchaser profile reports and making visits to customer homes all chill the notion that gun ownership is still “legal” and “a right.” A type of martial law has been imposed upon the entire Southwest zone in the name of fighting cross-border drug gangs, restricting 2nd Amendment rights and placing the burden of proof upon the seller. Obama’s newly issued Executive Order #13581 ‘Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations‘ declares a national emergency, nominally going after drug gangs like Las Zetas, yet is written vaguely enough that nearly any entity could be seized if a link is suspected. One such likely target here are the gun shops that ATF and Justice Department have repeatedly tried to link to gun violence. Will dealers who either fail to comply with this paperwork or who are suspected of supplying guns that are later sold across the border be shut down and seized?
Just as drug war border zones extending 100 miles from the border are sold as “Constitution free zones” where rights can be violated, the ATF has effectively obligated gun dealers in 4 states to preemptively report on its customers, despite existing background checks under the FBI. Meanwhile the Justice Department, ATF, FBI & Co. based in Phoenix ran a false flag under Operation Fast & Furious to arm drug gangs to frame sellers in the Southwest border zone. A similar false flag was run in Austin in 2010 where the ATF and local police staged an arrest and declared a ban on private sales in effort to shut down Texas Gun Shows, a favorite target of gun grabbers longing to close “loopholes.”
If Barack Obama, seeking to ban guns “under the radar,” can get away with this bureaucratic tyranny through executive policy under his Presidential agencies, then the executive branch can get away with anything (powers that will also extend to the next GOP stooge in the Oval Office). President Obama “the Constitutional scholar” has dangerously ruled by decree far too many times already: waging war with Libya while arrogantly saying he doesn’t need to consult Congress; taxing carbon dioxide through the EPA when Congress wouldn’t pass legislation; ignoring the Constitution by taking foreign titles under the U.N. and more. Now, after refusing to secure the border, Obama will cynically wage ‘war’ on the drug gangs (openly backed by top Wall Street banks and armed by the executive branch) in order to attack the second amendment by proxy. Gun dealers, induced to inform on their customers, will be painted with fault as firearm restriction sets in– unless we say no.
Exclusive: ATF Intimidates Gun Owners With Home Visits
Paul Joseph Watson & Aaron Dykes Infowars.com July 31, 2011
Even as it finds itself embroiled in a scandal that saw weapons being deliberately sent to criminal gangs in Mexico, the ATF has issued a letter ordering firearms dealers in border states to report sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles, and is following it up by harassing gun owners with intimidating home visits as well as threatening gun dealers to spy on their customers.
As the Justice Department announced earlier this month, “All gun shops in four Southwest border states (Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico) will be required to alert the federal government to frequent buyers of high-powered rifles.”
The ATF letter also orders gun dealers to report to the feds sales of “two or more pistols or revolvers, or any combination of pistols or revolvers totaling two or more.”
The letter, which was subsequently sent out to gun dealers and has since entered the public domain, orders firearms retailers to “Submit to ATF reports of multiple sales or other dispositions whenever, at one time or during any five consecutive business days, you sell to an unlicensed person or otherwise dispose of two or more semi-automatic rifles capable of accepting a detachable magazine and with a caliber greater than .22 (including .223/5.56 caliber).” The directive takes effect from August 14, 2011.
The federal government is enforcing a law that was never passed.
Despite the Obama administration’s best efforts to characterize Operation Fast and Furious, a recently revealed ATF program that sought to put U.S.-based firearms into the hands of Mexican drug smugglers, as little more than a ‘screw up’, the most damning evidence strongly indicates that the whole operation was in fact an attempt to launch a false flag assault on the second amendment rights of the American people.
Under Operation Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives “Sanctioned the purchase of weapons in U.S. gun shops and tracked the smuggling route to the Mexican border. Reportedly, more than 2,500 firearms were sold to straw buyers who then handed off the weapons to gunrunners under the nose of ATF.” Some of the weapons were later used to kill US Border Patrol agents like Brian Terry.
An editorial posted at Investors.com this week asks, Was Fast And Furious A Gun-Control Plot?, a reasonable assumption to make given the fact that Obama has openly revealed his administration’s plans to sabotage the second amendment by stealth.
“Rather than a botched attempt to catch criminals, was the ATF program actually an attempt to advance gun-control efforts by an administration that has blamed Mexican violence on easy access to U.S. weapons?” asks the author.
“If “Operation Fast and Furious” was merely a botched attempt at law enforcement, why was a supervisor of the operation, David Voth, “jovial, if not, not giddy but just delighted about” marked guns showing up at crime scenes in Mexico, as career Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent John Dodson told Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee?”
The Obama administration and the ATF claim that the program was part of a sting operation to catch leading Mexican drug runners, and yet it’s admitted that the government stopped tracking the firearms as soon as they reached the border, defeating the entire object of the mission, unless the mission was about pushing through gun control in the US and had nothing to do with the drug war.
That would also explain why ATF agents like James Casa were repeatedly ordered to stand down and not seize the firearms, while the Obama administration failed to even inform Mexican authorities of the program’s existence.
Unbelievably, both Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder maintain that they had no knowledge of the operation until it became public, and no one will admit to authorizing it. ATF Acting Chief Ken Melson is “strongly resisting pressure” to resign over the program, claiming that he is being used as a “fall guy” to take the blame and make the controversy disappear.
However, the notion that the Obama administration would deliberately implement a program they knew could later be used to demonize gun rights is hardly conspiratorial given the fact that Obama himself told gun control advocate Sarah Brady earlier this year that his administration was working “under the radar” to sneak attack the second amendment.
During a March 30 meeting between Jim and Sarah Brady and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, at which Obama “dropped in,” the president reportedly told Brady, “I just want you to know that we are working on it (gun control)….We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
There also seems to be little motivation on behalf of the US government to catch drug smuggling kingpins in Mexico by way of sting operations involving firearms given the fact that those same kingpins are in many cases working for US intelligence itself.
With the gang having first been trained at the infamous School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, Castillo affirms that Los Zetas are still working for the US government in protecting drug routes to keep the wheels of Wall Street well-oiled. Castillo has gone on the record to state that the commandos are working directly for the US government drug cartel in carrying out hits on rival drug smugglers who aren’t paying their cut.
The Obama administration has repeatedly invoked rhetoric about the flow of guns being smuggled from the U.S. into Mexico as a talking point with which to chill gun rights of American citizens, repeating the demonstrably false myth that 90% of weapons confiscated by Mexican authorities originate in the U.S.
Before his election, Obama attracted the fury of gun rights activists when he said that Americans frustrated with the declining economy “cling to guns or religion” as a means of relieving their stress.
Just months into his term in the Oval Office, Obama told Mexican President Felipe Calderon that the U.S. was to blame for much of Mexico’s drug violence because of firearms that were purchased in America.
“I will not pretend that this is Mexico’s responsibility alone. The demand for these drugs in the United States is what’s helping keep these cartels in business,” Obama told Calderon during a press conference. “This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border.”
Back in April, the administration failed in its bid to push through a law that would have mandated licensed gun dealers in the southwestern states to “file reports with BAFTE on all sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles larger than a .22 caliber”.
Given the Obama administration’s open hostility to the second amendment, with Obama himself promising to launch a sneak attack against the second amendment “under the radar” shortly before the details of Fast and Furious were made public, coupled with the highly suspicious methods employed during the program itself, and added to the US government’s history of controlling Mexican drug lords, there seems little doubt that the entire scope of the mission was to launch a false flag against the second amendment, one that has thankfully failed due to the program being revealed by whistleblowers.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.
