The Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling!

Dave Hardy at Of Arms and the Law points out that not only are gun sales rising in the U.S. (as evidenced by the FBI background checks), but even in Australia.  Chicken Little is fretting up a storm down under, according to this article from the January 23, 2012 Sydney Morning Herald:

THE number of gun permits issued in NSW has almost doubled in the past five years, sparking calls for restrictions on how many guns people can acquire.

Figures from the NSW firearms registry show 111,792 permits to acquire a firearm were issued in 2009 and 2010. That was 29,427 more than for the previous two-year period. In 2005 and 2006, there were 65,997 permits issued.

The National Coalition for Gun Control, which obtained the latest figures under freedom-of-information laws, says that the increase is linked to the scrapping of a 28-day waiting period for a second or subsequent firearm.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/permit-rise-triggers-push-for-a-gun-limit-20120122-1qc2o.html#ixzz1kONDh7PE

Well, duh!  If the argument for a waiting period is to do a background check, or to prevent a crime of passion, then once you have a gun license and gun, another waiting period accomplishes nothing at all.  Not surprisingly, the gun control groups are upset, and the Green Party is going to introduce a bill to prohibit people from owning more than three guns.  This makes absolutely no sense: unless you are remarkably adept with your feet, most human beings can only fire two guns simultaneously.  A criminal with ten guns can't really do more damage than a criminal with two guns.

The article also quotes from an MP from the Shooters Party (which in itself is rather sad, that they needed their own political party, presumably because the existing political parties were so tied to gun control) as saying that much of the increase in gun purchases is actually not existing owners buying more guns, but new gun owners.  It is almost like the restrictions that Australia put into effect after the massacre some years ago are having the opposite effect from what the gun control nuts wanted: to make guns socially unacceptable.