America’s #1 Gun Salesman

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with law enforcement officials to discuss policies aimed at reducing gun violence in communities across America, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Jan. 28, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

And the winner once again as America’s #1 gun salesman is: President Obama. I had the pleasure of speaking with a friend this week who owns a gun shop, which does custom work (a huge biz by the way), and also has a range on site. I wanted to get his take on Obama’s executive orders on gun control. I’ll sum it up like this: “Every time the President opens his mouth about gun control we see a huge spike in sales. Why would we want to stop our #1 salesman?” The Wall Street Journal writes:

Every President struggles to stay politically relevant in his final year in office, but someone should warn President Obama not to become a caricature of a lame duck. The main result of the new federal gun-control decree he announced Tuesday will be the sale of tens of thousands of guns to Americans who worry that the government might soon block any new purchases. No American leader has done more for gun sales since King George III.

The heart of Mr. Obama’s 56-page executive order is a requirement for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to tighten regulation on individuals “engaged in the business of selling firearms.” This is supposed to slay what gun controllers deceptively call the “gun show loophole.”