topherchris

Some Floridians are stocking up on assault weapons in light of the rumor that Obama is going to take them away.

Barack Obama was elected president late Tuesday night, and T.J. Ramsey has spent hours since then fitting assault rifles to the palms of gun-hungry customers at Shoot Straight Tampa.

Fears that President-elect Obama will ban certain firearms has stoked a craving for assault weapons — AR-15s and AK-47s — and high-capacity magazines.

Nationwide, purchases of firearms and ammunition have risen as much as 10 percent this year. Gun dealers in the Tampa Bay area and beyond are flooded with customers trying to get guns before the government does.

The AR-15 is the “civilian version” of the M16. You know, the one we’ve given to our soldiers since Vietnam. The AK-47 might be the most efficient killing machine ever devised.

I will never understand why private citizens think they need these things, but you’re welcome to them as long as they’re semi-automatic, legally. Regardless of that, a hasty, outright ban seems highly unlikely in light of all the other problems the Obama administration will be inheriting.

Sidebar: This is an excellent parallel to the meme going around before election day that there would be “civil disturbances” (the kinder, gentler riot) in our cities after an Obama victory. You know, when the media was using code-words to essentially say “black people are going to burn shit down.” I didn’t see that happen, but white people really are filling out their personal arsenals right now.

(Hat tip to Casey.)