In the 1990s the anti-gun rhetoric from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and then-Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was great for gun sales. When congressional Democrats passed, and then-President Bill Clinton signed, the 1994 “assault weapons ban,” sales of slightly-altered copycat rifles skyrocketed.
When notoriously anti-gun Barack Obama won the presidency, sales began to soar again. In fact, Obama’s eight-year gun-control campaign made him the best gun salesman in our country’s history.
But now Obama’s epic salesmanship has been eclipsed. The new record-holder is young David Hogg of Parkland, Florida, school shooting fame, whose non-stop gun abolitionist rhetoric has given the gun industry its best one-month sales performance in modern history. (Related: The real goal of eliminating the Second Amendment is to obliterate the First Amendment (and enslave us all).)
According to the Washington Free Beacon, March “saw the most gun-related background checks run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of any March on record,” according to documents released by the law enforcer.
The WFB noted further:
With 2,767,699 checks conducted by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in March 2018, the month beats the previous record of 2,523,265 set in March 2016 by 244,434 checks. That represents a 9.68 percent increase.
The figures are still being tallied as of this writing but if the trend holds, then March sales indicate that 2018 is on pace see more gun-related background checks than last year, which was the second-best on record (but still behind 2016, when the most were conducted on record).
The number of checks that are processed through the FBI’s NICS isn’t a true reflection of actual gun sales; some applicants are rejected for various reasons, with most tied to legal restrictions. But they are one of the strongest indicators of overall sales and how well or how poorly gun dealers are doing because each sale made by a federally licensed gun dealer must first be run through NICS.
Individual states, meanwhile, are not accurate indicators of overall sales. That’s because many states do not require background checks before sales between private parties. Also, some states use the NICS to ensure applicants for concealed carry permits are legally able to have a gun and a permit. Finally, sales of multiple guns during the same transaction generally only require one background check via NICS, the WFB reported.
“These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS," the FBI wrote in its report on the number of checks. "They do not represent the number of firearms sold. Based on varying state laws and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.”
The news site noted further:
The spike in background checks comes as gun-control activists made their most publicized and successful push for new gun-control laws in years. In the wake of the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., gun-control activists have organized highly publicized national protests calling for new bans on the AR-15 and other firearms and accessories at both the federal and state level. They have also successfully instituted strict new gun-control measures, like a ban on gun ownership for adults under 21 and new waiting periods on all gun purchases in Florida while advocating for their passage in other states as well.
While gun sales typically spike following violent attacks or mass murders with guns, the most recent spike is noteworthy in that it was so steep.
“Sales of semi-auto rifles, especially AR and AK platforms, have more than doubled in sales since the Florida shooting and subsequent media coverage of possible pending legislation," Rex McClanahan, owner of one of the biggest online gun dealers, Bud's Gun Shop, told the Washington Free Beacon.
Young Mr. Hogg’s rhetoric has also led to a spike in new NRA memberships (including mine).
While he may not revel in the title of “Champion Gun Seller,” he’s clearly earned it.
Learn more at HoggWatch.com.
J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target.
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