George Rebane
Buying ammo in a proto-autocracy is quite an experience. This morning a friend and I arrived at 630am for the annual Father’s Day ammo sale at Miwall by the Nevada County airport. They hand out number cards to serve you in the order of your arrival; we were 201 and 202. The place was already overflowing with buyers and more were arriving by the minute. Before the morning was out there would be over 1,000 people assembled on the black top in front of the Miwall warehouse.
Fortunately is was not to be a very hot day, so those waiting in the sun were just on minimum broil. My friend and I set up our chairs in the shade, broke out our lunchboxes containing breakfasts prepared by the wives of our lives, and just cooled it for three hours talking to neighbors and arrivals from distant parts. The conversations were uniformly about the sad and saddening state of our nation. No one could believe that ammunition purchasing in our land has now also become a social statement.
After three hours in our chairs it was time to get into the long serpentine line between the ropes that had been set up. For some reason, starting with the sheriff’s deputies, there was a lot of security around – many extra men in black t-shirts with belt holsters were in evidence. Picture taking was frowned upon. These days only security cameras can photograph your puss during such assemblies. These videos are, of course, available to the state at their pleasure. Recording the passing scene where people congregate is rapidly becoming a no-no for private individuals.
Then with almost one more hour in the serpentine, we were finally allowed into the warehouse with our dollies which all experienced ammo buyers always bring – the stuff is heavier than lead. And today we were introduced to the rationing of 22s – one 500 round brick of long rifles per customer. The other types were available, but at astronomical prices that no one had experienced before. Yet people were coming out with their handcarts loaded with various calibers, spending literally thousands of dollars. And there were a goodly portion of cash buyers who did not want a record of their purchases to wind up in Big Data.
It was after 11am when we loaded our heavy boxes into the truck and pulled out while still more people were arriving. All late comers were evidently surprised, and kept asking whether they still needed a number this late in the day. Kindly but firmly they were told, that yes, they still needed a number. So that is how our gun rights are being constructively removed in the opening decades of the 21st century. Welcome to the new normal in Obamastan.
A major takeaway from this morning was that we recognized so few of the hundreds of gun enthusiasts and ordinary citizens, all in a panic to stock up before … . Easily nineteen out of twenty of these gun owners don’t participate in any public forum in which the direction of our country and public policies are discussed or debated. These people, almost everyone wearing some cap or t-shirt extolling gun rights, the NRA, or whatnot, come out of the woodwork on days like this, then disappear again never to be seen until next year. And listening to them grouse, there was a great temptation to inform them to get off their collective asses, and do something besides mumbling in their beer.
My friend had an idea that next year various organizations, those which also promote Second Amendment rights as part of their political outlook, should set up information booths at Miwall inviting these ammo buyers to do something in the interval besides shooting their guns and buying more ammo. Perhaps that will happen, unless the feds either buy more billions of rounds to totally collapse the civilian market, or make it illegal to buy ammo at all without massive registrations, background checks, and fees – or both.
rebanesruminations.com 
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