US weapons sales surge on fears of Obama gun laws

FIREARMS SALES have surged in the five months since President Obama’s election.

Millions have gone on a buying spree that has stripped shops in some parts of the country of assault weapons and led to a national ammunition shortage.

The FBI says that since November more than seven million people have applied for criminal background checks to be carried out on them so they can buy weapons, a figure excluding the many more buying in states with no such checks.

Gun-shop owners and the National Rifle Association (NRA) say the surge is driven by worries that President Obama is planning to ban many types of firearms and that the deepening economic crisis will fuel a crime wave. But gun control groups accuse the NRA of funding a massive scare campaign.

Last week in Pittsburgh, a man who told friends he was afraid the government would take his guns away shot three police officers. – (Guardian service)