Wednesday, April 15, 2009

US prepares to go postal

Maybe it's just the internet gambling crowds I hang out with, but I wish the Yanks who chat in-game would stop talking about stocking up on guns. But these Timothy McVeigh impersonators might be the tip of nutbar. The Guardian is worried. The talk of Obama banning assault rifle sales has sent sales skyrocketing. Some gun stores have run out of ammo and civilian versions of M-16s:
A year ago, the Guns and Ammo Warehouse was selling, each month for $1,000 each, about 10 of their AR-15s, a semi-automatic civilian version of the army's M-16 assault rifle. Howley says he can now sell 45 a week, when he has them...

"All the hand guns are selling and I can't get more in. I'm wearing a $3,000 hand gun. That's expensive and even they are sold out," he says. "When the guns come in I sell in a day or two what used to sit on the wall for weeks..."

Even big department stores, such as Wal-Mart, are complaining that daily shipments of ammunition have all but dried up and that when stock does come in it sells out the same day.

"The largest gun show in Virginia was two weeks after the election," says Howley. "It sold out of ammo on the first day. People were just wheeling it out by the cart load.
Note, hunting rifles aren't selling. Now the Department of Homeland Security warns of the rise of domestic extremist right wing zealots:

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines "rightwing extremism in the United States" as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

"It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration," the warning says.

Meantime, what's up with the GOP? The rent-a-cause teabaggers party or that Glenn Beck, highlighted by RB, shows they're leading by example in the Loony Tunes department. Bill Maher, you're always welcome in Wellington if things go Mad Max on you over there.