Corona Virus, Left wingers, and guns.

[sqlbullet]

and the above is why all here should reload....

I have been digging out all the brass I have laying around and will be spending a fair bit of the weekend running my version of a "one arm bandit".

[Keiichi]

Is it considered hording if I did it before the panic?

[Kenk]

Not as far as I'm concerned 😀😀😀

[sqlbullet]

Hoarding before the crisis, as I recall, is called "being prepared".  Unless the media finds out in which case you are a "gun nut".

[Patriot]

The wife and I stopped at Cabelas the other evening. The parking lot was PACKED. I mean full as can be. But when we walked in, not a customer in sight. Clothing department and check out lines were completely empty. We made our way to the firearms department, as we were there to buy ammo, and soon found everyone. Could barely walk. The line to see guns must have had 200 people in it. Couldn't even move in the ammo aisles. Grabbed some Sig 10mm they had available and a big box of 22lr. No 9mm or .380 or much of anything else. But they were selling guns like mad.

[Keiichi]

I saw a story out of Vegas showing a gun store completely cleaned out. They had like five old used 22 rifles but nothing else on the walls or in the cases. Amazing times.

[pacapcop]

And preppers were kooks. 

[Marchboom]

Let the anti-gun people sweat out these tense times. DemocRATs want to take away our guns when times are good but when things turn to sh*t they have no problem with owning guns. They can't have it both ways.
Let the democRATs feel what it's like to be unarmed when others just might want to steal what they have. And we haven't even gotten to the worst times.

[Kenk]

And they are coming, no question about it

[rognp]

Darn were stuck in FL with only 2 rifles and 4 handguns. A few hundres 9mm, couple hundred 10mm and brass for a 100 more, a shotgun and one box of birdloads.  Everything else is back in the PR of MD.
Wife bought a nostalgia rifle here, a Savage 99, 303 Savage and cant even take it home due to overerly leftist MD legislature. Maybe its a curio since there is no ammo made anymore?

Went by the Rural King a few days ago and their 9mm shelves were bare also 556. Lotsa people looking at handguns, but in this store there are always alot looking.

[Muskrat]

I think is particularly funny that "gun experts" have been advising people to stick with common calibers...9mm and 5.56 especially...because there will always be ammo for them. Now, those are the calibers that you can't find anywhere at any price.

I also think that while it's prudent to be armed, there's a real limit to what's useful, and people are wasting time and resources stockpiling weapons instead of food, water, medicine and board games. There is no logical reason to forecast anarchy or the complete failure of the state, and protracted gun battles with roving packs of predatory thugs are not something I see as a realistic scenario...though I guess some neighborhoods are more dangerous than mine. Regardless, having more ammo than you have magazines for provides very little in the way of actual security.

I called my brother who's in home-quarantine in the Bay and asked him if he needed ammo. Turns out he's got 100 rounds, which is plenty. Given who he is and where he lives, if 100 rounds isn't enough then he's just not going to make it, and another thousand rounds isn't going to make one lick of difference. I think that's true for most people.

And BTW, not all left wing democrats are anti-gun. My brother is a professor at one of the most liberal universities in the country...hell, in the world, and when I asked him if he wanted the S&W 659 that didn't fill a niche for me he said ya...that'd be great. Doesn't accomplish anything valuable to lump people together based on one aspect of who they are, in my experience anyway.

[Graybeard]

Sorry I struck a nerve Muskrat. I would gladly confirm that all left wingers are not anti gun rights. But all the anti gun rights folks certainly seem to be left wingers.

[gadabout]

Ha! I am not reloading hundreds of rounds because I need them. There is just nothing else to do that interests me. Craig

[Keiichi]

Muskrat, generally I agree with your sentiment. We should be striving to maintain or re-institute rule of law and organized society, not hastening chaos and violence.

I do think there are a couple of valid reasons to stockpile some amount of ammo, though. One, in the event of a run on ammo like we're seeing, I want to still have the ability to train regularly. Having 1000 rounds of my defensive calibers ensures I can train for many months without feeling the shortage. Two, in the event things do unfortunately go south for an extended period, ammunition can be a very valuable trading commodity.

I don't think it makes sense to panic and horde, but I do see value in having a moderate backstock (bought during normal times) so I don't have to care if others do.

[Muskrat]

No need to apologize Graybeard, it's not really a nerve. I just think that defining people as "left" or "right" is simplistic and divisional and ultimately counterproductive to everyone. It's an easy trap to fall into, but I've yet to see a trap that was worth the cheese.

I think a lot of people who are now interested in guns were never anti-gun, just gun-neutral. They never saw a need for one, never really wanted one, never gave it much thought. That politicians they may have supported were not "pro-gun", for lack of a better definition, wasn't even a part of their decision matrix. It just wasn't on their radar.

Some will crucify them for that, but the philosophy that If You're Not With Us You're Against Us is among the lowest forms of bullying...right down there with name-calling and stereotyping. In my experience, bullying is the refuge of people who cannot support their viewpoint any other way.

If someone who was previously uninterested in firearms now has some interest, then great. Maybe a little too little and a little too late on their end, but probably not. Probably there will be plenty of guns and ammo and ranges available in a few months, and those people might go from being gun-neutral to gun-interested or even gun-positive.

Just my opinion, of course.