Sunday, November 9, 2008

Two unrelated stories ... or not.

ONE:
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Two of Australia's largest bookmakers are refusing to pay out on bets that Barack Obama would win the U.S. presidential election, citing fears he could be assassinated before his inauguration, a report said Saturday. The two bookmakers, Sportsbet and Centrebet, told the Sydney Morning Herald they would not pay out on the bets until the first African-American U.S. president takes office in January.
Bullet-proof screens were put up on stage when Obama made his victory speech to jubilant supporters in a Chicago park. Two white supremacist skinheads were arrested in the U.S. state of Tennessee in October over plans shoot Obama, although the plot appeared unsophisticated.
TWO:
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan - The scene Saturday was a retailer's dream: Wall-to-wall customers, skyrocketing sales. But the approaching holiday season didn't spark this rush. Barack Obama did. His election triggered concerns by gun enthusiasts that his administration would push restrictions on firearms. Gun stores across the country noted increased business.
Sales of handguns, rifles and ammunition have surged in the last week, according to gun store owners around the nation, who describe a wave of buyers concerned that an Obama administration will curtail their right to bear arms.
"It really picked up Monday, and it's gone crazy since election day," said Doug VanderWoude, co-owner of Silver Bullet Firearms Indoor Range and Training Center in Wyoming.
"Law-abiding citizens don't like it when people are trying to take your guns," VanderWoude said. He's knows it's election-related because customers are buying handguns and sport-utility rifles rather than hunting rifles. Gun sales up are more than 30 percent in the last week.
It seems to me that one wouldn't need bullet-proof screens if there were no ... bullets. The photo above is a customer in Fort Worth, Texas examining a new gun. Tell me, what is he going to do with that? Is he going out deer hunting?
I'm not sure where they're getting this idea about the Obama administration curtailing the right to bear arms, but I'm guessing that in at least a few instances there are other motives.
And all it takes is one.

3 comments:

kimmyk said...

Jamie works in a prison and it just so happens to be where they house some grandpoohbah's of the Aryan Brotherhood and they got themselves all in a tizzy. Bunch of crazy ass mentally handicapped white schizophrenics. i hate that sort of mentality...and those idiots in australia...i hope they have to pay out big.

i am not a supporter of guns of any kind. especially the one that guy is holding in the picture. who needs something like that?

i had a patient last week telling me how i should shoot a gun and it will make me not so afraid of them and how it gives you a sense of power. right. power. got it.

Anthony said...

A co-worker told me the same thing. I'm not "afraid" of guns (unless one is pointed at me) I just think the whole thing is out of control.

The "right to bear arms" came out of a time when militias were formed. Now that we have standing armies, it's a right that should have been repealed a long time ago.

Handsome B. Wonderful said...

I haven't heard Obama say once that he wants to take away the guns. It's a boogy man that the radical right love to propagate to keep gun owners supporting their organization with the dues.

No one is coming to take your guns people. And even if the government wanted to take them away or come to take over your land for some unlikely reason there is no way that your gun/rifle is going to stop an M1 Abrams tank. Or Blackhawk helicopter.

Americans love to think of themselves as a country of Rambos. This all said, as stated above I don't care to take away anyone's guns and Obama doesn't either.