Another debt ceiling debacle could sink the economy
Last year's Congressional debt standoff hurt consumer confidence more than the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Betsey Johnson and Justin Wolfers write. This time could be worse. Read more at Counterparties
Business brisk at Tucson gun show week after rampage
A sign advertises the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson, Arizona January 15, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Eric Thayer
TUCSON, Arizona |
TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - Thousands of shoppers browsed for guns at a trade show in Tucson on Saturday, a week after a shooting rampage that killed six people and raised questions about permissive gun laws in the United States.
"People see it as either guns are going to get banned, or I'm going to get shot," said stall holder Randall Record, 27, explaining the mood at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show on the outskirts of the city. "Either way, it drives sales."
The show was held a week after college dropout Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire on a crowd gathered outside a grocery store with semi-automatic pistol, killing a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl and four others.
Thirteen people were injured by the hail of bullets, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains critically ill in a city hospital, shot through the head.
Private citizens in the United States are the most heavily armed in the world, according to a study issued by the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and gun ownership is a cherished constitutional right.
In 2009, the FBI ran more than 14 million criminal background checks on people seeking to buy firearms, although no record is kept of the number of guns actually sold.
As a stars-and-stripes flag fluttered at half-staff outside the show to honor the dead, shoppers picked over stalls crammed with AR-15 assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols, including the popular Glock 9mm model police say was used in last weekend's shooting.
Others bought hunting and target rifles or pistols for self-defense, or bought and sold antique weapons for the love of collecting.
"It's just a hobby," said chemist Donald Macaulay, 62, who hoped to sell several reproduction flintlock and cap lock rifles at the show. "I get a lot of pleasure from it."
'WAKE-UP CALL'
Loughner, 22, is charged with five federal counts, including the murder of a federal judge and the attempted assassination of Giffords.
The shooting highlighted permissive gun laws in the United States -- and in Arizona, where a state law allows citizens at least 21 year of age to carry a gun in their pocket without special training or permits.
Gun control advocates said they would like to close one loophole in the law that allows the purchase of guns at gun shows, such as the one in Tucson on Saturday, without going through a background check.
Some in the U.S. Congress want tighter regulation of some semi-automatics and the extended magazines of a type Loughner is accused of using to fire dozens of shots in just a few seconds.
But some people at the Tucson trade show drew the opposite conclusion and said the deadly spree showed that Americans need to go out and buy more guns for self-defense.
"This incident shows very, very clearly why it is so vital to have more people armed and ready and prepared to defend" themselves and others, said Charles Heller, 53, a founder of the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a group that advocates the right to bear arms in the state.
Jim Hague, a 50-year-old nurse, said of last weekend's shooting: "If a responsible person carrying a gun had been there, he could possibly have helped control the situation."
Loughner has had a history of emotional problems that have emerged since the shooting. Calls by some groups have focused on the weaknesses of the system used to prevent people with mental illness from buying guns. Loughner successfully bought a gun from a store in November.
"I'm in favor of possibly doing a bit more of a thorough background investigation before just handing someone a firearm," said Steve Smith, 53, a commercial collections investigator carrying a Beretta carbine strapped across his chest, and a Colt pistol in a holster.
(Editing by Greg McCune and Mohammad Zargham)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
these courses don’t stop the public from owning guns- it actually is quite easy to go through if you havent had a felony charge or you are a generally responsible citizen. these licenses only stop the people who cannot properly defend themselves under the law with a gun. And they stop the mentally unstable too.
The questions we should ask for gun laws are “is this weapon mostly for self defense or animal hunting?” not is it too lethal. All guns are lethal. So a normal citizen should (with a license) be able to own in their home or car a handgun with 8-12 rounds in it. Not 20 or 30. in my opinion, if you cant defend yourself in 10 shots you can’t operate the gun effectively. Similarly, there is no reason rifles of any type should be fully automatic- no one really uses a scoped rifle to defend their home- more often to hunt. And as a deer hunter i can say that unless you are taking down a charging bear or rhino, a semi-auto rifle is too much too. maybe semi-autos with 8-12 round clips. again, if you cant kill your target animal in 8 shots you are not a very good hunter.
The right to bear arms in a militia in the 18th century meant standard weapons of the time (single-fire flint lock pistols or rifles) could be owned by the People. School shootings of dozens were inconceivable to the founders because of the limitations of the weaponry of the time. the first semi-auto designs weren’t even until 1885, after the civil war.
Id like to also point out that i am not advocating no guns, the People need to defend themselves with weapons- just more reasonable firearms with defense or sport in mind. and to those who think there should be no gun laws, you dont have to agree with me, just dont call me what im not- a socialist, a leftist, or a hater. I am a citizen with opinions, like you, and firstly I’m an American.
When poltroons need to be saved from the bad guys
they don’t mind guns so much.
The yellow journalists from America that get in trouble around the world are just fine with having the US military send in a unit to save their sorry hinys.
Follow Reuters