Huh?

Obama win triggers run on guns in many stores
Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama's administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

"The day after the election, I had many more calls than usual from people looking for semi-automatic rifles," said David Greenberg, the owner of the Second Amendment Family Gun Shop, in Bisbee, Arizona, who sold out of AR-15 rifles in recent days.

"There seems to be a fear they will be banned, and it's fairly likely," he added. "Obama and Biden are driven to eliminate firearms from the face of the country."

Read the rest.

A few weeks back, i interviewed Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus, for my radio program. He was in town for an early production of an adaptation of his book that David Fellerath and Katja Hill are working on for ManBites Dog Theater. One of Joe's contentions is that liberals don't know how to talk to a certain portion of the American electorate, namely rural, working class white people (he calls them rednecks), with the consequence being that rednecks often vote against their own economic interests when they should be allies with liberals, whose policies on issues like health care and education will be of benefit.

Here's the deal. I don't recall hearing anyone during the just completed election cycle talking about gun control, restricting gun owners' rights, yadda yadda yadda. It simply wasn't an issue this time around. Even after the Supreme Court struck down the Washington DC ban on handguns. Even after an 8 year old killed himself firing an Uzi at a rifle range. Even after a convicted felon fired 29 rounds through a front door and took out a 12 year old trick-or-treater on Halloween and wounded his father and brother. Obama has spoken about "common sense" actions on guns, but it's clearly not going to be a priority for either his administration or the 111th Congress. So where's the fear and panic coming from? Is there a common sense argument against making automatic weapons available to convicted felons (and apparent paranoid nutcases) like the guy in Sumter who thinks that a kid walking up his steps is a robber who can only be defended against by emptying a clip through a door? Seriously, i'd like to hear how putting in some restrictions preventing this guy from having an Uzi would jeopardize the legitimate 2nd Amendment rights of most other American citizens.

But that's beside the point. Progressives have learned that talking about guns is a losing issue, so they're really not doing it. Why is it that some folks still hear that anyway, even though no one is, you know, actually saying it?