Profiting from the Gun Control Debate and Other Thoughts
So, with the push for gun control in full swing, it seems that black rifles and their magazines have skyrocketed in value over the past few weeks. I read that magazines that sold for $14 a few weeks ago were now going for $60+ and finally did a little research earlier. Didn't notice a price increase at the major vendors, but all of them were sold out anyway. My neighbor bought a S&W AR a few months ago for $650, and last time I went back home I hooked him up with about thirty mags and some other goodies. Now, he could sell his rifle and accessories for well over $3000. He called me yesterday and offered to sell some of my surplus mags at $50 apiece while I am deployed. Theoretically, at least, I have around $5k in AR mags alone; not to mention fifty or so Beretta mags that are also out-of-stock online.
Anyway, I expect that when the next nonsensical Assault Weapon Ban (AWB) goes into effect all "high capacity" magazines will be again stamped with dates and/or "Military/LE use only". Those perfectly legal pre-2013 mags will probably go for even more, unless the anti-gun crowd gets their way and manages to avoid a grandfather clause for existing mags. In that case I will be stuck with a couple of hundred chunks of illegal steel and plastic. So, long story short, I think it is time to make a little cash.
The last AWB went well in my opinion. Outlawing all those deadly flash suppressors and bayonet lugs curbed crime, and trading my Paratrooper SKS for three Beretta magazines (which were artificially inflated in value to $50 or so each) and $40 was the best financial decision a broke young Private could make. I also finally sold off my AR-15 lower with the AWB-mandated fixed stock (it had the evil separate pistol grip). The carbine upper was sold off years ago to a friend. Its heavy barrel looked outstanding without the lug or suppressor. All the rounds I put through that gun when it was whole were made much less deadly by the AWB-friendly configuration. My NHM-90 is also long gone. It had the separate pistol grip which I was always wary of since most came with the AWB-legal thumbhole stock. Having owned such a possibly illegal weapon for four or five years during the Ban, I am surprised it did not involved itself in a massacre somewhere. Guess I'm lucky like that. Hopefully my sarcasm is evident in the above sentences...
Being honest, I'm not keeping up with the so-called "national conversation". After recent events, I'd be surprised if we don't get another restrictive--yet useless--law on the books that will do little besides impress ignorant citizens. Sadly enough, I hardly care. Call me jaded or any other number of things, but conversations with fellow gun owners have me believing that AR-15s and their ilk are barely worth fighting for. Personally, I believe that they should be as legal to own as a hunting rifle, but most hunters I know feel differently ("no one needs something like that..."). Even the guy I sold my lower too has displayed his ignorance; being one of the few liberals in the Infantry, he has repeatedly told me he doesn't see why anyone needs a bayonet lug. He seems to forget that those are only one of the features that will be eliminated if...and when...a new Ban in implemented. The sadistic side of me wants to watch him give up his newly built AR if it comes to that. Gun owners themselves are split on this issue, and without them coming together the next Ban will make that of '94 look like a drop in the bucket. I'm heading overseas shortly and have more pressing concerns in the immediate future. Like making sure my selective-fire M4 is ready to shoot some bad guys.
I notice this board has little activity nowadays, but what are your thoughts on gun control, especially pertaining to black rifles and their kin?
