Where'd everybody go? No one's out there yappin'!
Guess I'll just have to put up another gun post. Breaks my heart, ya know.
from Moneyblog at MSNBC
Guns: A better buy than stocks
Posted Apr 16 2009, 12:20 PM by Todd Harrison
Forget stocks and bonds, the real money's in guns.
The Wall Street Journal reports artillery enthusiasts are stocking up on guns and ammo, not necessarily ahead of widespread civil unrest resulting from our ongoing economic swoon, but as an investment. These trigger-happy (hey, mind your manners) speculators are betting President Obama will institute a ban on assault rifles, which would crimp supply and send prices, well, shooting up.
For it's part, the Obama administration says it has no plans to enact such legislation and supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
(Ok -- bit of a long aside here. This past Saturday our local Congressman -- hardcore Conservative -- gave a TownHall at our Gun Club. We invited him, he came -- don't be so surprised. Upshot -- I missed alot of it due to Easter stuff going on HOWEVER I do know he said that all the proposed gun legislation everyone is concerned about is going absolutely NOWHERE in Congress. Has nowhere near the votes for any serious consideration. Now, do I trust this Congressman on this? Hell yes. Do I trust Obama? Hell No! Will I keep buying ammo & guns as finances allow? You betcha! But even Diane Sawyer said on a recent show "The NRA is doing a great (!) job holding this stuff at bay." Diane Sawyer! OK. Aside over)
During the federal ban on semiautomatic weapons from 1994-2004, prices soared. Recent buying has reached almost a frenzied pitch, creating backlogs for popular models and enabling resellers to list certain guns well above suggested retail prices. AK-47s doubled in price between September 2008 and the end of last year.
Ammo, as well, has become a hot commodity. As one supplier said, "(Ammunition) beats the hell out of money markets and CDs. You can double your investment in ammunition in a year."
Equity investors, too, are betting on Americans arming themselves to the teeth. Smith & Wesson (SWHC), maker of Dirty Harry's weapon of choice -- the .44 Magnum (by the way OTHERS make a .44 magnum as well. S&W just happens to be particularly good at it) -- has seen its stock jump from around $2 per share to over $6 since Inauguration Day. Still, shares are off around 70% from highs seen as recently as late 2007. Sturm Ruger (RGR), another gun manufacturer, has seen a rise of almost 100% in 2009.
As Minyanville's Kevin Depew is apt to say, "These are heady times we are living in." The Journal running a front-page story on buying guns rather than stocks is indicative of just how strange things have become.
Recent volatility in financial markets is driving Americans to seek alternative ways to protect -- and even grow -- their money. And while we're yet to see widespread construction of bunkers, protective trenches or armed militias patrolling the streets, the country is on edge to an extent not witnessed since September 2001.
I mean, pirates are all over the news, for God's sake. Pirates!
2 comments:
I am a bit demoralized today. I hope your congresscritter is right, but this is not over.
The left won, but the hatred and vitriol they aimed at Bush is now aimed at us.
(see this bit at American Spectator: http://spectator.org/blog/2009/04/16/socialist-schakowsky-calls-con)
This kind of stuff, plus that Maryland National Guard report discussing the tea parties (Atlas has it up) have me thinking that this is not going to end until all the conservative/moderate/libertarian voices are silenced.
I can see, in a few years, that criticizing the government or the Pres. will be considered "hate speech" and be illegal. Same with disarming us. Or there will be no ammo left at all.
And the Supremes will have added a radical or two, and those laws will be upheld on transnational grounds.
They are already talking about Souter stepping down in June - he hasn't hired any clerks for the next term.
So, it is hard to feel real encouraged by this.
Maybe it is just ODS, but this administration is not going to accommodate any views other than its own. Ever.
Can we regain Congress or the Senate? I don't know, but given the complete and utter lack of any kind of principled leadership in the GOP, does it really matter?
DC is a place where they buy your rights with your own money.
Our only hope is that the states just say "no." But if we have ACORN running the census and getting involved in state elections as well - it does not bode well.
Ro
I understand, Ro. The Congressman I trust. What Obama may do behind our backs I don't.
Your view is not ODS, at least not as I would define it. And this country is splitting rapidly under the leadership of our Great Bipartisan President. When the media behaves as badly and slovenly as they did yesterday "reporting" a story you're right, it does not bode well.
Gun up. Now. Because I can easily see civil unrest coming. Hope not, but not counting much on hope.
Haven't had much computer time today but will check out the two pieces you mentioned as soon as I can.
Be of cheer and look forward to tomorrow's music post (Friday -- at Happy Hour!). Little Boom Boom to start the weekend.
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