Obama win spurs U.S. gun sales boom

Those crazy Yankees:

In John McCain's home state of Arizona, the recent economic downturn took its toll on The Don's Sport Shop.

Gun sales at the Scottsdale store slowed to a crawl last month, even as the state's hunting season rolled around. On an average day two weeks ago, shop owner Manny Chee was eking out only $2,000 or $2,500 in gun sales.

"The housing crisis has hit our state pretty hard," he said. "It was kind of like everybody's in limbo."

But Barack Obama is good for business. Last Wednesday, the day after Mr. Obama beat Arizona's own Mr. McCain to become the president-elect, Mr. Chee sold $30,000 worth of guns - mostly the semi-automatics the National Rifle Association claims Mr. Obama's administration will restrict.

"The election came, and now it's just a madhouse in here," said Mr. Chee, 31.

Between Nov. 3 and Nov. 9, the Federal Bureau of Investigation received 374,000 requests for background checks on gun buyers - 49 per cent more than the same time last year, CNN reported.

The NRA believes Mr. Obama would restrict handguns and raise taxes on ammunition, effectively quintupling the cost of bullets.

From here.