Dianne Feinstein’s Legacy Might Surprise You
In reaction to all the talk of proposed gun legislation, recent days have seen:
- An exponential spike in the sale of AR-15 rifles
- Another spike in the sale of 30-round magazines (reportedly one million are now on back order!), and
- Many new NRA memberships.
As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Behind the boom, several gun shop owners and experts said, is a mix of fears — of being touched by violence and of tighter gun restrictions. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) has vowed to file a bill that would ban so-called assault weapons and ammunition magazines, strips and drums that can accept more than 10 rounds.
“Anytime there are tragedies in the news and talk of gun control, that always boosts sales,” said Keith Thompson, manager of Range & Guns in Forest Park. “Business seems to be driven a lot by crime and politics.”
CBS News, on the sales of AR-15s:
“I normally sell about 15-20 a month. I’ve sold about 30 in the last three days,” said Rick Friedman, who owns RTSP in Randolph, N.J.
The reason, he says, is clear: “Because people want to make sure they can own them legally before they get the right taken away.”
Calls for stricter weapons laws after the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school have gun enthusiasts scrambling to buy firearms before they’re potentially restricted or banned outright.
Brownells Inc., which claims to be the world’s largest supplier of firearms accessories and gunsmithing tools, said it has sold 3 1/2 years worth of ammunition magazines in three days.
Consumer demand has been “unprecedented” recently, according to a statement attributed to company President Pete Brownell on gun owner forum AR15.com.
The National Rifle Association’s paying member ranks have grown by 100,000 in the wake of the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the organization told Politico on Thursday.
In light of these facts, Patterico’s Pontifications proudly nominates our Senator, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, for an NRA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Perhaps no single American in the country’s history has done more to put high-powered rifles and high capacity magazines in the hands of United States citizens.
That will be Dianne Feinstein’s enduring legacy.
Thanks to S.K., whom I quoted often in this post. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I think Obama is a stealth lobbyist for the gun lobby.
Patricia (be0117) — 1/10/2013 @ 9:42 pma lot of times when you try to exploit the corpses of dead children, it just goes terribly wrong
it’s a thing
happyfeet (ce327d) — 1/10/2013 @ 9:47 pmI suspect there are far more Democrats that own stock in gun companies than you think.
DanH (286bef) — 1/10/2013 @ 9:57 pmThe Connecticut massacre, was just the perfect “crisis” at whatever time, for LIBTARDS.
gus (694db4) — 1/10/2013 @ 10:03 pmThe L-tards simply act in oppurtunism, to whatever situation that they can use for PROPAGANDA or their IDEOLOGICAL Political purposes.
Like the Chik-Fil-a protest, they just don’t get America. They are willing to be sheeple, we are not. And yes I did buy 2 mags from Brownell’s.
Gazzer (b92d8e) — 1/10/2013 @ 10:27 pmI have read elsewhere that in the past two months ALONE, more guns have been sold than the total number of law enforcement officers in America. And you KNOW it’s not bolt-action elk rifles.
Thank you, Diane Feinstein.
Henry (0b1269) — 1/10/2013 @ 10:47 pmIn the same way that the AK-47 is named after Mikhail Kalashnikov (who is still alive, by the way–93 and going strong), I suggest that hereafter we nickname the AR-15 rifle “The DiFi”, in recognition of Senator Feinstein’s enormous help in making the weapon a bestseller. (Ah my lefty friends, beware of the law of unintended consequences.)
Kevin Stafford (1d1b9e) — 1/10/2013 @ 10:56 pmPatrick, how many rounds of ammunition can be contained in a “30-clip magazine”?
You’re a DA, you should know better.
askeptic (2bb434) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:00 pmOK, it’s late, and you’re tired; but you should still know better.
Eugene Stoner would turn in his grave if his weapon-system was hung with that sobriquet.
askeptic (2bb434) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:01 pm(reportedly one million are now on back order!)
My information is that 1-million is the approximate backorders of just the Magpul P-mag.
askeptic (2bb434) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:06 pmNo word on what the b/o’s are at other mag makers, but they’re huge.
A local maker here in SoCal has backorders that exceed their 2011 sales (which were a record).
I do know better; I quoted the tipster because he was so eloquent on the topic and failed to notice his typo. I tweaked the language of the post accordingly. Now good night!
Patterico (8b3905) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:07 pmI suspect there are far more Democrats that own stock in gun companies than you think.
CalPers pressured Cerberus to divest itself of Freedom Group, which holds Remington, et al.
askeptic (2bb434) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:10 pmCA Treasurer Bill Lockyer made it a point today to announce that CalStrs (the teachers retirement fund, of which he sits on the Board, as he does at CalPers)
is divisting itself of all investments in firearms companies (Cerberus; Smith & Wesson Holdings; Sturm, Ruger & Co., etc.).
Can’t have any of that evil gun money paying teacher retirement benefits now, can we?
and lastly, the WSJ’s Kim Strassel has an excellent column on this in her Potomac Watch column in Friday’s Journal:
The Real Gun-Control Consensus:
askeptic (2bb434) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:15 pmDespite the press’s best efforts to parse his statements, Harry Reid has committed himslf to nothing more than a ‘thoughtful debate.’
Did you hear Biden today, repeating himself about how bullet-ridden the children of Sandy Hook’s bodies were?
How disgusting and insensitive.
MayBee (62b5d1) — 1/11/2013 @ 1:24 amIt’s not as if this panic buying was some unforeseen consequence of the new ban efforts. The exact same think happened in 1989 when Bush banned imports and California banned so-called “assault weapons” and again in 1994 the first time Feinstein and the Democrats banned AW.
Kevin (post 7)
No no, you’ve got it wrong. What we should do instead is rename rifles like the 10 shot Hi-Point 9mm carbine as ‘Feinstein Specials’. Because that Hi-Point was designed specifically to comply with Feinstein’s ban, and Eric Harris used one as the principle murder weapon at Columbine in 1999.
Brad (57a759) — 1/11/2013 @ 1:35 am#12 Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 1/10/2013 @ 11:10 pm
He is just doing his duty by divesting the retirement funds of companies he has inside information will be targeted by the Obama administration. An initial increase in sales but eventually the goal is to destroy these companies except for the few they designate as official government suppliers. And these few will be restricted to selling to governments.
If they can hold on to power after the great majority of Americans finally get their heads out of their collective asses and realize that Obama does not represent “HOPE” so much as “HOPELESSNESS”.
Hopefully most law enforcement officers are Oath Keepers. Most of us veterans remember our oaths and what we signed up to protect.
God help any law enforcement agency that gets tasked with the confiscation of guns from rural America. They will be retrieving empty weapons cause they will have already gotten all the bullets.
Jay H Curtis (804124) — 1/11/2013 @ 6:30 amLockyer, yes why doesn’t his name and prudent judgement, necessarily jibe, let me muse on that for a minute,
narciso (3fec35) — 1/11/2013 @ 6:34 amDid you hear Biden today, repeating himself about how bullet-ridden the children of Sandy Hook’s bodies were?
How disgusting and insensitive.
MayBee – as happyfeet noted, they are exploiting the corpses of children. And it is gonna backfire.
JD (b63a52) — 1/11/2013 @ 7:11 am“Perhaps no single American in the country’s history has done more to put high-powered rifles and high capacity magazines in the hands of United States citizens.”
– Patterico
I feel safer already.
Leviticus (17b7a5) — 1/11/2013 @ 7:19 amThe details don’t really matter;
http://thejacksonpress.org/?p=1252
narciso (3fec35) — 1/11/2013 @ 7:56 amCalPers….Threatening an investment fund forcing divestment of one of its highest performing entities when CalPers is receiving less than 1% ROI and their business model calls for a 7.5% return – the difference will have to be made up by CA taxpayers, the most productive of which are bailing on the state.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 8:05 amLockyer is a fool as Treasurer, as he was as AG, as he was as State Senator.
A hack!
Greetings:
Wasn’t it Senatress Feinstein who first said, “You can take my Senate seat when you pry it from my cold, dead ass.” ???
11B40 (65b528) — 1/11/2013 @ 9:06 am…Feinstein said on CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes, February 5, 1995, “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ’em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.” …
They’re hoping now they are, and they will never give up that hope.
htom (412a17) — 1/11/2013 @ 10:03 amA friend just reminded me of this:
“The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 10:16 amIt is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny.
In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.”
“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own.
Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil,
and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda,
they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”
—Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle
(emphasis added)
and what will she do when they pass the law and a large portion of the population simply says “come & get them”?
redc1c4 (403dff) — 1/11/2013 @ 10:16 am“come & get them”
Had a conversation yesterday with two Deputies who were of the opinion that very few of their fellows would be taking on this task;
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 10:28 amthat they have enough problems just picking up the illegal guns of ‘bangers as it is,
they certainly don’t need to turn the law-abiding population against law-enforcement too.
Hmmm, makes you wonder whether this was what she intended. Did she perhaps make a few quiet investments just before releasing her bill? I’m serious.
Milhouse (15b6fd) — 1/11/2013 @ 1:35 pmNo time to go look for the Piers Morgan thread right now, so I’ll post this here: I don’t understand why everyone seems so happy about Ben Shapiro’s performance. Yes, it’s always nice to see Morgan slapped down, and eliciting that “your little book” line was worth everything, but did nobody notice that he seems to have no idea what an assault rifle is, or the difference between it and an “assault weapon”. He agreed that the last four mass-shootings were with assault rifles, and he agreed that AR-15s are not useful for hunting or self-defense, and seemed to say the only reason we need them is to fend off a tyranny should one arise one day in the future. That’s not right. Sorry, got to go now, won’t be around until Sunday probably.
Milhouse (15b6fd) — 1/11/2013 @ 1:41 pmIt’s a shame Madame Feinstein is rather good for a CA politico.
As Sen. Hollings said of his senior SC Senator “His mind is no longer keen”.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 1/11/2013 @ 2:04 pmDespite clearly violating the D.C. ordinance on the possession of “high capacity” magazines, David Gregory won’t be prosecuted.
So all we have to do to avoid prosecution under gun control laws, is be a TV anchor. Cool.
SPQR (768505) — 1/11/2013 @ 2:05 pm28- I think Ben was thankful that he could get a word, or phrase, in edge-wise.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 2:14 pm30- It would not surprise me that the USA for the DofC will be receiving an invitation to appear before the House Cmte on the Judiciary in the near future.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 2:16 pmHe’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.
It’s a shame Madame Feinstein is rather good for a CA politico.
Saying that she “is rather good for a CA politico” is the definition of damming her with faint praise. In actuality, Dianne Feinstein is the single most overrated politician probably in the history of the state. Yes, she wins elections by huge margins and yes, her brand of “moderation” is appealing to those who lack the intellectual firepower to have an actual ideology, but I think her legacy is going to be strained. Conservatives will recall that she was one of the head cheerleaders for abortion and gun control, and liberals will remember that she voted for the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq War. I don’t think there will any lasting result of her decades in the Senate or anything to recommend her to future generations when effective legislators are discussed.
The fact remains though that we are stuck with her, and that she won’t leave the Senate except for feet first with the next stop the morgue.
JVW (4826a9) — 1/11/2013 @ 2:30 pm11B40 nailed it!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 2:59 pmJust a coincidence, I’m sure;
http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/01/david-gregory-and-wife-knew-d-c-attorney-general/
narciso (3fec35) — 1/11/2013 @ 4:25 pma day which can’t come soon enough.
i look forward to watering the grass on her grave, after eating a big plate of asparagus.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 1/11/2013 @ 4:48 pmThe Constitution and Bill of Rights protects natural rights, “endowed by [our] creator”, not privileges conferred by government.
SteveP (365346) — 1/11/2013 @ 5:06 pmYes, and The Right to Keep and Bear Arms, is a Natural Right,
not a privilege bestowed by a benevolent government.
Not just No, but HELL NO!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 1/11/2013 @ 5:14 pmPiers Morgan is trying his best to beat Feinstein in this, however.
Warner Todd Huston (71cf67) — 1/11/2013 @ 5:20 pmWe live in a lawless nation currently. That’s what Obama has given us.
SPQR (768505) — 1/11/2013 @ 5:35 pmMore bad news for Moonbeam. Citrus to take a big hit tonite.
Closure of mountain passes buried with 4 inches of snow. Yes, inches.
Oh, sweet Saint Andreas, hear our prayer.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 1/11/2013 @ 5:40 pmHigher than average chance of temblors for the next few days:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50438072/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.UPC8JUbDVSI
We’re on the backside of a weak Solar cycle when eruptions are unexpected but quite severe.
http://solen.info/solar/images/comparison_recent_cycles.png
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 1/12/2013 @ 5:36 am