The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 has apparently led to a dramatic increase in the sale of guns and applications for concealed handgun permits. As a result, Obama has been labeled the "greatest gun salesman in America," by online gun and ammunition retailer Ammo.net.
"President Obama's perceived hostility towards gun owners has been one of the key factors behind the multi-year financial boom the firearms industry continues to enjoy," Ammo.net writes on its website.
As organizations such as the National Rifle Association prepare to oppose Obama's re-election this year, the site even suggests that gun rights groups should perhaps rally in support of the president this November, given his unintentional boost to the industry and to the NRA's membership rolls.
According to an extensive infographic posted on the website, since Obama's presidency, taxes on the sale of new firearms and ammunition has gone up 48 percent since 2008, and state-by-state breakdowns show that North Carolina, Iowa and Utah have all seen over a 100-percent increase in gun sales.
Not everyone agrees that Obama should be supported and celebrated by gun supporters, however. NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre has spoken out against the Obama administration's gun policy, the site notes.
"Lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term," LaPierre told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC this month.
"We see the president's strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms' freedom, erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution."
Contrary to these words however, Obama has made no strides toward imposing further regulations and has even expanded these rights by signing a measure allowing Americans to carry guns inside national parks. Additionally, he has been criticized by his own party, in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, for not enforcing stricter measures on high-capacity ammunition clips, such as the one used by her shooter.
Last year, Obama wrote an op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star in which he stated that most gun owners are responsible people.
"I believe that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way to make the United States of America a safer, stronger place," he wrote.
Look at the infographic from Ammo.net below:
Via: Ammo.net