New gun purchases in Utah have increased drastically as a result of Barack Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential election. Although Obama is certainly no friend of the Second Amendment, it appears unlikely he will institute any new gun control measures in the near future.
This might just be wishful thinking, but it appears Obama is tacking toward the center and wants to avoid the mistakes that former President Bill Clinton made early in his first administration of pushing extremely polarizing measures that helped turn control of Congress over to the Republicans in 1994.
According to the National Rifle Association’s Institute of Legislative Action, Obama has supported gun registration, a ban on all handguns and prosecution of people who use firearms in self-defense in their homes, among other anti-gun measures. In 2005, he voted to allow cities to sue law-abiding gun manufacturers for harm caused by the misuse of their products by criminals. Obama’s support for reinstituting the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban is probably what has caused the most concern among gun owners.
Tara Shrewsbury, a customer relations representative at Robinson Armament Co., a Salt Lake City-based arms manufacturer, said sales of guns, magazines and ammunition have skyrocketed since the election. More specifically, orders for Robinson’s XCR, an advanced design “assault rifle,” quadrupled the day after the election.
Dave Larson, the manager of Doug’s Shoot’N Sports on Redwood Road, said his customers are worried about not being able to get guns in the future and, as a result, he has noticed a huge increase in the sales of all guns, especially pistols and semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 and AK-47. Shrewsbury said a lot of people have decided that now is the time to make that “dream purchase.”
However, there are reasons to believe this pessimism might not be warranted. Obama is going to be confronted with the choice of moving to the center or dealing with the problems of trying to govern what is basically a center-right country from the left. Recently, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told FOX News that from what he observed, he believed Obama was taking the former course.
At the same time, Obama has to be aware of the perils of veering too far to the left. Hinckley Institute of Politics Director Kirk Jowers said Clinton pushed several left-wing programs early in his first term that served to alienate many moderate and conservative Americans. These included Hillary Clinton’s poorly planned attempt at national health care, gays in the military and the 1994 assault weapons ban.
It is also important to note that many Democrats support the Second Amendment. Jim Matheson, congressman for Utah’s second district, has an “A” rating from the NRA, despite the fact that he is a Democrat. His influence could help protect the rights of Utah gun owners.
In addition, there is little impetus for increased gun control measures. Violent crime, which gun control advocates exploited in the early 1990s to pass legislation, has been going down for years, according to FBI statistics, and is no longer the political issue it once was. Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that during the 10 years it was in effect, the Clinton Gun Ban had little or no effect on crime.
Larson said he has sold a lot of AR-15s and AK-47s over the years but none of them has ever been used in a crime. More important to politicians, however, are the conclusions that Dane Strother, a Democratic media consultant, voiced to U.S. News and World Report earlier this year, “You can talk about guns, or you can talk about everything else. If you start talking about guns, everyone bridles, be it pro-gun or antigun. You’ll never make it to health care. You’ll never make it to the economy.”
Steve Warrick