Amid threats from various Republican Congressmen, soaring pre-emptive gun sales [3], and a majority of Americans (56%) believe that if more Americans carried concealed weapons the country would be safer [4]; President Obama is set today to formally announce his executive action new gun-control measures.
[5]
In the wake of mass shootings at schools and other public places, some have argued that the shootings could have been stopped if any of the victims had carried weapons. Others argue that having more citizens carrying weapons can lead to more violence and accidental shooting.
Obama plans to continue the weeklong push to promote the gun effort with a prime time, televised town hall discussion Thursday and it is sure to be prominent in Obama’s final State of the Union address to Congress next week. At the centerpiece of Obama's package of executive actions (which aims to curb what he’s described as a scourge of gun violence in the U.S) is a broader definition of gun dealers that the administration hopes will expand the number of gun sales subject to background checks.
Live Feed (Obama is due to speak at 1140ET)...
The government’s own numbers tell us that 3.8 people per 100,000 in the US die each year from non-suicide gun violence. Terror-related deaths are effectively 0.0.
Meanwhile, 11.6 per 100,000 die in traffic related deaths. A whopping 169.8 people per 100,000 die from heart disease.
As a gentle reminder, when another socialist utopia (Venezuela) imposed gun control laws, violent crime actually increased. And Caracas is now one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
What happens next? 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 today 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.
