Societal Decay - Henson Ong

[mlmpetert]

Whats happening right now is insane. I really hope someone is making a documentary or record of it. The amount of guns sold while Obama has been president is..... unpresidented (sorry, I know lame). Things have been even crazier most recently:

• Month to month sales from October to November increased by 25%, after Obama’s most recent win.
• In December sales increased by 39%, likely due to Christmas, Obama, Sandy Hook, UN treaty, and Feinstein.
• In January they dropped from December’s all time high by 10%, yet were still higher than any other point in history (but only because of supply).
• These numbers are based off of background checks only. So private sales and sales where a person buys multiple guns at a time are not included.
• Walmart, Dicks and others have even stopped selling certain firearms – yet without some of the biggest retailers participating demand remains incredibly strong
• Gun prices have sky rocketed (where’s Obama when you need him???)
• Ammo is non-existent (3 box limit EVERYWHERE)
• Mags are even harder to get
• The NRA is MONTHS behind processing membership (when you call them the prerecorded message says “Because of assaults on your Second Amendment rights you may experience significant weight periods”)

Ive bought/sold/traded a lot of guns in the past month or so and its been pretty crazy. Im getting rid of junk for prices I should never be able to get. I would say its primarily mob mentality, people thinking they’ll never be able to buy a particular item again or people thinking they will never be able to make private purchases again. Its becoming a status or hipster/trendy thing too, everyone wants an AR or a Glock like everyone wants the latest Apple product.

But whats extra crazy is that shit like bb guns or firearms that will never be banned are flying off the shelves too. Everyone is just buying buying buying right now. It feels completely like a bubble but the only problem is I dont think gun manufactures have the ability to produce enough guns to satisfy the demand any time soon. Because of this I feel like newly produce firearms are going to be restocked at higher prices, so these currently high prices may be somewhat supported indefinitely.

Previous bubbles in history all seem to be primarily driven by greed; housing, dot com, beanie babies, tulips, etc. This is driven almost entirely by fear. Most people arnt buying because they think the gun will be worth more one day, theyre buying because they think they may never be able to get one again – or get one without monitoring controls. I think consensus greed is irrational, im not so sure about consensus fear.

I just want to make these comments because I find the gun market absolutely fascinating right now. I would love to hear other people’s thoughts.



FBI Reports Record Gun Sales Last Month — Up 1 Million over December 2011