Fox News: Obama Driving Surge in Gun Sales, Firearms Groups Say

“President-elect Barack Obama’s election has spurred a surge in gun sales, firearms retailers and enthusiasts say, as gun owners brace for what they believe will be a new era of gun control in Washington.

An electronic news service that covers outdoor news has even named Obama its “Gun Salesman of the Year.”

Firearms associations began to suspect that political considerations were driving gun sales late last year as the number of background checks increased. But end-of-year figures showed a big spike in background checks for the last three months of 2008, and in November, the month Obama was elected, the number of background checks was 42 percent greater than in November 2007.

“It’s not a hard tea leaf to read,” said Jim Shepherd, publisher of the news service Outdoor Wire, which claims Obama’s election has “frightened consumers into action.”

…The National Rifle Association’s Web site recently featured a column titled, “Ready to Defend Our Rights: Are gun owners going to be a high priority target for the Obama administration?”

The Web page linked to another site devoted to Obama’s gun control positions. “Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history,” the site says.

Obama stated during the final leg of the campaign that he believes in the Second Amendment, and “I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won’t take your handgun away.”

But gun rights advocates say one of their principal concerns is that the new administration and Congress will eventually reinstate an assault-weapons ban. Vice president-elect Joe Biden, as a senator, was a strong supporter of the assault-weapons ban, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 1994.

Under the ban, which expired four years ago, domestic gun manufacturers were required to stop making semi-automatic assault weapons and ammunition clips holding more than 10 rounds, except for military or police use.

While in the Illinois legislature, Obama backed a ban on semiautomatic weapons.

Andrew Arulanandam, public affairs director at the NRA, said gun organizations are not urging members to stock up while they still can.

“I think people are doing this on their own accord,” he said.

“We hope that the president keeps his campaign promises. Nothing would make us happier,” he said. “But we think he is going to have a tough time keeping those promises.”

FOX News’ Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.
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