A main take away...6.2M new firearms owners...

https://www.americanrifleman.o...-last-deep-into-2021

$.02 worth,
Boss

In the long run, this is excellent news, particularly the entrance of women and people of color more deeply into firearms ownership and use.

Now, if only all gun owners—both the new and the old—would learn to vote like gun owners.

Not likely, though.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Now, if only all gun owners—both the new and the old—would learn to vote like gun owners.

Not likely, though.

Many of these folks who rushed out to finally buy their first gun as an emotional reaction to fear/uncertainty in their world are likely to also vote based on emotional reactions.

Liberalism is more grounded in emotions. Conservativism is more grounded in reason.

And the sad truth is that gun rights is often not a top factor in political decisions, even among many gun owners and otherwise conservative voters.

Is this really new owners? How reliable is that stat?

And this may not be all positive - wonder what percentage of these purchases are antifa prepping for clashes with free america?

I know that the military stockpiles. But if there was a war, could US ammo manufacturing keep up with demands (not just to military) or are there concerns here?

Next time around when supply is ample (if ever), should we personally stockpile not just for range, competitions, SD but for potential war? Perhaps that's already the norm?

I did an inventory and rearranging of my ammo last summer and thought I was in pretty good shape. Now I wish I'd bought more.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
In the long run, this is excellent news, particularly the entrance of women and people of color more deeply into firearms ownership and use.

I am hopeful as well.
As these newbies learn... they will come to know that firearms ownership is both a right and an incredible responsibility. Rights and responsibilities go together. That's something many have not been taught at home by good parents.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
As these newbies learn... they will come to know that firearms ownership is both a right and an incredible responsibility. Rights and responsibilities go together. That's something many have not been taught at home by good parents.

I'm concerned that the newbies are a good mix of antifa who are arming themselves to mount a stronger offensive against free america. Please tell me I'm wrong.

^^^ You're not wrong. I'm sure there's a good mix of antifa in there as well.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Please tell me I'm wrong.

Here is my prediction: Unless a pony really does show up by the tree within the next 34 days, the whole Antifa thing will quickly fade away because there will be no more reason for the monied Left to keep it going.

Could I be wrong? Of course, but that prediction can be no more wrong than innumerable others I’ve seen here, and I at least have reasons to believe I’m right other than faith based on wishes.

So I leave disappointed. The authors who wrote the link and the other links provided should be writing for women's mags or even teen girls. Gawd how short and shallow. So I did my normal procedure and followed all the links and left cold. Fairly good information if all true, but no depth at all. This from a subject I'm really interested in and kind of well versed. That means I read everything I find and don't believe it all.

Also interesting because I keep a substantial amount of ballast downstairs. No, not just ammo but nearly all AR issues from the 1940s onward and a fair number from the 1930s. Yeah, I'm kind of a fanatic on the subject of gun stuff. Not a big surprise at the information offered, but some of it new to me. Its why I read.

And it brings me back to one of our "road trips" from the last century. For whatever reason, shooters seem to find each other and become even better friends. This one from a Jeep club we belong to and it was holding a big function. So given the choice we had "needs" (no, not sex but ammo). So we split the families up, with the wives and most kids going to the club grounds and daddies and only one of my sons heading south.

We'd planned an ammo run for a while and kids Christmas games only a fool would pass up a gun show for. So Charlies big ole Impala was stuffed. But as often happens we ran out of money and ammo to buy. Yeah, we're a big part of the ammo shortage they've been talking about and have been for a long time. We got back to the club grounds mid afternoon, having spent mostly all the cash we took along. That and having run out of ammo to buy at a good price. These were the early Klinton years and the Kommie bastard and his wife had started my first real ammo hoarding exercise.

If I had any common sense, I'd have learned. But this is ammo we're talking about and Maybe I'm not a quick learner. Some of it still exists in the ammo vault. Yeah, I've got one of those with 6" concrete walls, earth on the outside. More heavily armored than the outside is the fool guarding it. Built it 10+ years ago, and moving in was painful. So back to the story. We got back from Louisville to meet up with the wives and kids. A good friend and not really recognized as a shooter asked us where we'd been.

Not being on our guard, we just told him to a gun show to buy ammo. He laughed and said he's well stocked. Remember, he's a hunter not so much a shooter. He said he's probably got 500 rounds if you include 22s. The nearest buddy nudged me to keep quiet. Because if I don't have 500 rounds per caliber I'm feeling insecure. But I'm not the cause of the ammo shortage because Its been that way for well over 30 years now.

It even comes to mind that if the anti gun nuts wanted to cause us even more pain, they just put the ammo companies out of business. Remember, the Constitution doesn't mention ammo, and none of the courts has connected the dots. Yet.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:......
I know that the military stockpiles. But if there was a war, could US ammo manufacturing keep up with demands (not just to military) or are there concerns here?

Next time around when supply is ample (if ever), should we personally stockpile not just for range, competitions, SD but for potential war? Perhaps that's already the norm?

I don’t know what the current military stockpile of small arms munitions is. Does anyone know? I would certainly hope that the powers that be have figured out how many millions of arms are necessary in a theoretical war. I would imagine that the number is significantly higher than that consumed in WW2 due to the advent of automatic weapons. I remember reading an article several years ago about the number of rounds spent per enemy killed in wars since WW2 and as you might imagine the numbers increased in each conflict.

As far as stockpiling ammo for a potential future conflict that may be a conversation better had in private not necessarily on a public forum. However, I will say that weight will quickly become an issue if you hope to be at all mobile. My son is due back stateside from a short deployment and I will ask him how much he takes on his missions but I would guess it’s probably just a few hundred...and many here on this forum, I would bet, have considerably more than that!

I think your concerns aren’t really based in reality. Have some antifa types bought a gun? Sure. Did they join a range, buy ammo, get some training? Doubtful in any real sense for any of those.

As for arming for war. Sorry to you preppier types but you aren’t going to be able to use your arsenals. If you truly need thousands of rounds to survive, you won’t. Not without support.

So, my opinion, buy enough that you can enjoy your hobby and survive a short term event. That’s about it.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Please tell me I'm wrong.

Here is my prediction: Unless a pony really does show up by the tree within the next month, the whole Antifa thing will quickly fade away because there will be no more reason for the monied Left to keep it going.

Could I be wrong? Of course, but that prediction can be no more wrong than innumerable others I’ve seen here, and I at least have reasons to believe I’m right other than wish-based faith.

I'm right in there with your thinking. 'They' have now served their purpose and maintenance funding, energies and monies, from The Masters' POV can better be spent on other nefarious doings. And they have the ability to call-up and regroup these peoples quickly if needed.
And perhaps, having served their purpose, the Masters now want to distance themselves from those they created. Optics.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Perhaps that's already the norm?

So did this just come to you? If its not too scary to do, share with us the total. Better still, maybe the number of years its been climbing.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I think your concerns aren’t really based in reality. Have some antifa types bought a gun? Sure. Did they join a range, buy ammo, get some training? Doubtful in any real sense for any of those.

As for arming for war. Sorry to you preppier types but you aren’t going to be able to use your arsenals. If you truly need thousands of rounds to survive, you won’t. Not without support.

So, my opinion, buy enough that you can enjoy your hobby and survive a short term event. That’s about it.

Foolish boy. What appears in your eyes as too much, isn't.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
^^^ You're not wrong. I'm sure there's a good mix of antifa in there as well.

With a lack of range-time, they are the least of the bunch to worry about.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
I did an inventory and rearranging of my ammo last summer and thought I was in pretty good shape. Now I wish I'd bought more.

I’m with you. In reviewing my PSA orders, saw I had last purchased 1000 rounds CCI 9mm for $169 in late 2019. I have a good supply, but should have tripled or more my order...that same 1000 rounds is going for $600+ today. insane and I’m not buying

Antifa is a tiny slice of America, folks, and a large percentage of them are felons. IF they are buying guns they're buying them on the street, not your LGS.

quote:

I’m with you. In reviewing my PSA orders, saw I had last purchased 1000 rounds CCI 9mm for $169 in late 2019. I have a good supply, but should have tripled or more my order...that same 1000 rounds is going for $600+ today. insane and I’m not buying

This is where I am. I probably have 3k rounds of 9mm, and wish that I had more, but there's no way in hell I'm paying $600/case for it. Same with 5.56. Have thousands of rounds of it, but it's still not enough.