Gun sales are booming--and some are attributing the spike to planning for President Obama's reelection. KHOU in Houston reports:
ANCHOR: Business is booming when it comes to gun sales across Texas. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there’s been such a rush that it’s created a nation-wide shortage of guns and ammunition. Some buyers say they are planning for reelection of President Obama, which they believe may lead to a push for gun control. One gun shop owner in Fort Worth said the same pattern happened before President Obama was elected in 2008.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, background checks for firearm purchases are up by almost five million nationwide since 2007:
"Look who the Republicans are trying to put against Obama," he said. "It's the Keystone Kops and people are getting scared. People are terrified he's going to get re-elected and then he won't care about getting votes next time. He'll just pass whatever legislation he wants." [...]
Last year, the FBI received more than 16.3 million inquiries from people running criminal background checks on potential gun buyers. That's up from 12.7 million in 2008 and 11.4 million in 2007, FBI records show.
Texas had around 1 million such requests in each of the past four years, the second most, behind Kentucky, which had nearly double that. Officials say Kentucky's numbers are high because fresh background checks are run every month there on gun owners with concealed-weapons permits.