The chart below, showing the total number of monthly FBI firearm background checks [4] - a direct proxy for gun purchases in the U.S., needs no commentary.
[5]
Here is the same data, on a monthly basis to avoid the seasonal noise. No matter how one looks at it though, the 3.3 million background checks in December was a record high.
[6]
Neither of these are the "troubling chart" referenced in the title. This one shown below is, and it comes courtesy of the NYT [7]:
[8]
The chart shows that while the soaring gun sales are the effect, the cause is simple: president Obama.
The same president who tomorrow at 11:40am will finally reveal just what [9], after many delays, his executive action(s) on gun control will be.
The concern is that with one more year under Obama's term, gun sales over the next 12 months are certain to surge to new all time highs as Obama's crusade to crush the second amendment slowly picks up steam in order to cement his "anti-gun" legacy, and as the population rushes to buy as many as it can before Obama makes such purchases illegal.
It's not all bad news though: gun makers could not have asked for a better president, as the following headline just confirmed:
- SMITH & WESSON SEES 3Q ADJ. EPS 39C-41C, SAW 27C-29C
As of this moment Smith and Wesson is trading at an all time high.
