The constant threat of terrorism, both from outsiders and insiders, is driving an unlikely segment of the general population to purchase handguns at a noticeably higher rate. Seniors over the age of 60, says longtime Republican Party supporter and former General Electric CEO Jack Welch – and wealthy seniors in particular – are basically ransacking gun stores in droves, with no signs of a slowdown anytime soon.
Welch, who recently spoke to CNBC, says he’s seen more elderly folks than ever before trekking to pawn shops and gun shows to arm themselves in preparation for the worst. With so much talk on television about Muslim terrorists, civil unrest and other worst-case scenarios, the baby-boomer generation isn’t wasting any time stocking up on firearms and ammunition.
“You can’t believe in my community of people 60 and over [how many people are] buying handguns,” explained Welch during a recent interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box program. “Everywhere you look, wealthy 60-year-old people are buying handguns.”
Part of the reason for this newfound gun rush is the Obama Administration’s repeated attempts to limit access to firearms in the wake of alleged shootings and other events that have occurred on domestic soil recently. Gun control is antithetical to the Second Amendment, and what America’s founders envisioned for a free people, and the elderly are starting to see the writing on the wall.
“People are sick of it,” Welch added, noting that much of presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s success in the polls is due to the fact that he’s arguably the only candidate fighting tooth and nail to protect the people’s right to bear arms. “In my view, Donald Trump has touched an enormous nerve. We’re sick of Washington.”
Sandy Hook, Paris, San Bernardino shootings only driving gun sales
The Obama regime had every intention of using tragedies like Sandy Hook and the recent rampage in Paris to push for more gun control in the U.S., but this plan has repeatedly backfired, as every time a new shooting occurs more people rush out to buy guns. According to FBI statistics, more Americans obtained background checks to purchase firearms on “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving in 2015, than on any other day in recorded history.
Some 185,345 Americans, to be exact, went through the proper channels to obtain guns on Black Friday, illustrating just how seriously most Americans value their right to bear arms. And now, with more seniors on board, it’s clear that the federal government’s tactic of trying to use shootings to further restrict guns is having the exact opposite effect.
So-called “commonsense” gun control efforts are also failing, as an increasing number of Americans come to the realization that commonsense gun laws already exist. Incremental installments of further gun restrictions are exactly what the progressive left claims they’re not – covert efforts to systematically disarm law-abiding citizens.
“These aren’t calls for restricting supposedly narrow categories of guns that are allegedly used predominantly by criminals,” admits The Washington Post columnist Eugene Volokh. “These are calls for banning the sorts of guns that tens of millions of law-abiding Americans have in their homes.”
Volokh warns that the latest call to ban “assault weapons” isn’t a reasonable attempt at limiting criminals’ access to deadly weapons. It’s the same covert gun control agenda that took place back in the 1970s when the government tried to outlaw “Saturday Night Specials,” which in areas where such bans were implemented locally, may have actually increased gun violence.
“… it’s hard to view gun rights supporters as ‘paranoid’ for worrying that supposedly modest restrictions will lead to broad gun bans, when they see how supposedly narrower past restrictions are indeed being followed by calls for much broader gun bans today,” he adds.
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