Patrice Lewis: Peace On Earth, Now Buy Gun

As you've doubtless gathered, I normally don't care for Black Friday shopping binges. I dislike the animalistic behavior people exhibit as they trample other shoppers on their way to grab cheap electronics or other unnecessary junk.

But there was one statistic that came out of this year's Black Friday that pleased me immensely: gun sales were up. Way up. Crazily up.

FBI background checks for that day smashed all previous one-day sales by 32 percent. Background checks totaled 129,166 on this year's Black Friday, compared to the next closest record of 97,848 on Black Friday of 2008. And the actual number of firearms sold, let it be known, was even higher for two reasons: one, background checks are not performed during transactions between individuals (i.e. someone buying a surplus gun from a friend); and two, a buyer can purchase multiple firearms under the clearance of a single background check. So altogether as many as a quarter to a half million MORE guns may now be in the hands of private citizens. Whoo-hoo!

These kinds of statistics always bring about a spate of excuses from those who wish people weren't armed. It couldn't possibly be that Americans are awakening to the possibility of anything from higher crime threats to an economic collapse. No, increased gun sales must be due to … lying.

Yes, really. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, there is "no significance" to this surge in gun sales. Acting president Dennis Henigan is "skeptical" of the numbers and postulated that "… gun companies are just catching on to creating a Black Friday frenzy for themselves." The scum.

As for the large number of first-time women buying guns, well, it must be due to a (cough) sudden and unprecedented interest in "sport shooting" or "hunting." It certainly couldn't be due to an interest in women protecting themselves. No indeedy.

Speaking from a gun-owning woman's perspective, I can testify that most women don't "suddenly" develop an interest in hunting. Women who hunt usually do so from an early age, not as an abrupt mid-life event. But many, many women develop a "sudden" interest in personal and familial protection, as well as defending their Second Amendment rights. At any age.

What progressive analysts like the Brady Center are reluctant to admit is the Second Amendment is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. Progressives have tried to discourage the relevance of gun ownership, believing that in our civilized age, we don't "need" guns. But when the chips are down, people know what's important. They know they need to protect themselves – not just from the threat of crime, but more importantly from the threat of an unconstitutional government determined to disarm its citizens by whatever means possible.

America has been watching Europe implode. We all know what happened the last time Europe had a financial meltdown. If the euro collapses, it will plunge that continent into an economic depression of massive proportions – with dire consequences here in the United States as well. And what happened during the last time an economic depression hit Europe, specifically Germany?

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