Fearmonger: noun. One who spreads the ideology of fear through propaganda to fulfill a concealed agenda.
We have no shortage of people who are perfect examples of fearmonger, but to be a successful fearmonger, you need more than just a Fox News camera focused on your watery eyes, or an AM microphone in which to bellow your drug-adled comments. You need people who are easily scared. Folks like those in this story.
An ammunition shortage in the U.S. is affecting police and sheriffs' departments all over the country, as well as gun dealers, from big retailers like Wal-Mart to smaller family-run businesses and online operations.
Ammunition suppliers say the shortage is due to several factors, including the sheer volume of ammunition heading overseas to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they also say the shortage — as well as a sharp rise in gun sales — coincided with the election of President Obama, fueled by fears his administration would usher in more restrictive gun laws.
There's an abbreviated account of an interview with a gun dealer in Texas attached to the article, but that version drastically pares back the conversation between reporter and gun dealer. To really get a sense of the situation, you have to go to the tape.
NPR: When did you first notice this ammunition shortage?
[Gun dealer Johnny] DURY: Well, it started the day that Obama got elected.
Everything just really went crazy in the gun business. There were a few speculators the week before the election, but most of the people just waited till the day the election was over with and they knew. From that day on it's been crazy at just about every gun shop in the United States.
NPR: Wait a minute. Help me understand what's going on. On November 5th, the day after the election, people headed to the gun store and started to stock up?
DURY: Like you wouldn't believe.
NPR: There have been stories about this in newspapers across the country and many of the gun dealers are quoted as saying this is fueled in part by people who are worried about restrictive gun laws. They're buying more guns and they're buying more ammunition. Is that what you're seeing?
DURY: They're buying more guns, and then with the purchases of the guns the ammunition goes right along with that. It's not just an ammunition shortage, it's a gun and ammunition shortage. Just that... the sheer volume of it, right after the election, everyone was scared that they was going to take this ammo, or that he was going to tax it out of sight on the prices, so people started stocking up, buying half a lifetime to a lifetime supply of ammo, all at one time.
NPR: A lifetime supply?
DURY: Mm Hmm. I had a 69 year old woman the other day call me and say I'm going to give you my credit card for a case of ammunition for my AK-47. She said, I'll be damned if I'm gonna have anybody tell me I can't have any ammo.
Where could these people possibly have gotten an idea that President Obama would lead a charge to drastically raise taxes on ammunition? I just wonder.
The NRA video shows a Virginia hunter and Iraq war veteran, Karl Rusch, complaining about the high cost of gasoline and accusing Obama of planning a "huge new tax" on "guns and ammo."
"Where is this guy from?" Rusch asks. "He's probably never been hunting a day in his life."
...
The NRA video also accuses Obama of voting "to ban virtually all deer-hunting ammunition" and supporting "a ban on shotguns and rifles most of us use for hunting."
Naturally, the NRA video -- and fliers, and ads, and emails, and magazine articles, and handily provided guests for spots on right wing media -- grossly distorted Obama's stand on guns. As a bonus it paints him as a scary other who doesn't understand what real Americans are like. But hey, I'm sure Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, et. al. cleared that up.
Now back to the conversation with... hold on a second... an AK-47? For home defense, there's really nothing like a Russian assault rifle designed for easy maintenance in rough field conditions. Favorite of Talliban field commanders, and apparently of Texas grandmas.
I don't suppose it occurred to you folks rushing the counter that the NRA draws much of its support not from gun owners but from the gun industry, and that by responding like startled owls you're making the guys who made that commercial rich. Anyone? Anyone? No, I didn't think so.
So what else did that dude who's stuffing his mattress with your sweaty fear-tainted bills dealer have to say?
NPR: The FBI is reporting a 31% increase in criminal background checks. That seems to comport with what you're saying.
DURY: The gun business is up 47%, so I would think the 31% would be light.
NPR: You know, there's an interesting irony here, because you're telling me that a lot of people are coming in and buying more guns, more ammunition because they're worried about restrictive gun laws. But people who promote more restrictive gun laws might listen to this conversation and say "that's exactly why we need these laws."
Actually, one might think that the bigger irony is that people are hoarding weapons when no one had proposed any changes in the regulations. Anyway.
DRURY: Well... the thing what those anti-gun people don't understand is that people are buying guns to protect themselves. They're so scared of the socialist type of let's take over the banks, let's talk about take over the oil companies, let's give all this money to people who are without jobs, let's reward all these people who are not working hard, and they said if the government is going that-a-way, what are they going to take away from us now? And that... you know what the big concern is? They're worried about being able to get any ammo and not being able to protect themselves. They feel like if the criminals know you can't get guns, it's going to make it easier for them to commit crimes.
Take a second to parse that last chunk. People are buying guns to protect themselves. Because the government is bailing out banks? Wait, that doesn't make sense. People are buying guns because someone -- certainly not the president -- is talking about taking over oil companies. And having a gun at your house helps with that... how? Hmm. Let's go on. People are buying guns because the government is going socialist and giving things to people without jobs who aren't working hard enough and if criminals know you're unarmed, they'll get you.
Oh! You're buying guns because you believe that President Obama is going to take away your stuff and give it to shiftless Negroes. Well hells bells, Billy Bob, why didn't you just say so?
You know, the NRA, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and all their kind can spread fear, but only if they have a ready supply of the kind of ammo they all fire: people stupid enough to believe them and cowardly enough to jump when they shout 'boo.'
Hoarding weapons because the outcome of an election didn't go your way doesn't make you tough. It only proves that your belief in America is no bigger than a gnat's ass. That your faith in democracy is as transient as a mud puddle on a hot day. That your love for country goes about as far as you could throw your lifetime supply of AK-47 ammo.
NPR: How's business today?
DURY: Today's an average post-Obama day.
You know, it's just another post-Obama day for me, too. Another day when the will of the American people gets done by duly elected representatives. A day when we try to clean up the mess created during the eight years while the wingnuts took off their camo and picked up pom-poms.
You guys with the cleaning out the shelves of ammo? Better stay home and guard that collection of Father Coughlin commemorative plates. Mean old Obama will be sending in the urban hordes any day now. Any day. Any... hey, what's that over there?
Boo!