National trend affects local shopping

This past weekend (both Saturday and Sunday), I shopped at Town and Country Department Store across Old 62 from the place of my gainful employment from 1980-90 (Rotary Forms Press, Inc.).

I've been shopping at Town and Country for roughly 40 years. Simply stated, I really like the store. It's one of my favorites.

There aren't too many like it anymore, either. One such store is Frisco Rod and Gun in Frisco, N.C. It's always worth a stop on any Outer Banks trip.

Highland County hunters and anglers are very fortunate to have a local store like Town and Country. For many years, if they needed something, that was the place to find it.

However, that's not quite as accurate these days.

For instance, on Saturday afternoon, my son and I quickly discovered that the store was sold out of its .22 long rifle rimfire cartridges. The .22s are a favorite for target practice for a few of our rifles and pistols. For one thing, they're relatively inexpensive.)

Another shopper informed us that two well-known national chain stores in the area also were out of .22s. The national trend has had a local impact.

I also noticed the current prices of popular calibers. They are up. Way up. I priced a 50-count box of .357 magnum shells at $60 – more than $1 per shell. For comparison, I have an unopened box of 50 .357s from maybe a decade ago. The price was $12. That's a 500-percent increase.

Since I have a few .357 magnum handguns – scattered in four or five different houses around the area – I opted for a 50-count box of .38 Specials for around $35. This compares to $9.50 for the same shells about 5 or 10 years ago.

Before looking for ammunition, one of the first things I noticed was that the store's inventory of firearms was less than I'd remembered from a previous visit in late November.

A family member had asked me last Friday if there was a local shortage of firearms, particularly handguns. I replied that I hadn't heard too much about it. After checking the Town and Country selection, my advice was that if he wanted a good, mid-range revolver, this might be the time to buy. He did. He purchased a nice .38 revolver and a box of shells. We'll have some fun target shooting real soon.

Between us, we spent more than $800 in weekend shopping. (Maybe they'll return the favor someday!) The county commissioners will, no doubt, appreciate our purchases when they receive their next sales tax report from the county auditor.

Several gun owners have mentioned to me that they are concerned with tighter restrictions on gun ownership in President Obama's second term.

If we had a majority of like-minded politicians in Congress, I might not disagree.

But as things currently stand, the House of Representatives still has a few voices of reason. Among them is new Second District Congressman Brad Wenstrup.

In one of the freshman congressman's first news releases – in response to the president’s recent proposals on guns, Rep. Wenstrup said: "There's been too much talk about taking guns away from law-abiding citizens and not enough talk about the root cause of all violence. As to President Obama's ideas, if he genuinely believes that banning a certain class of weapons will save innocent lives, why did he wait four years to propose such a ban? It's because he's playing politics instead of finding real solutions."

My best guess is that Obama's most recent fuss about law-abiding gun owners may be relatively short-lived if the economy doesn't soon improve. The media have a very short attention span, after all. Today's headlines very rapidly turn to yesterday's news.

As CBS reminded us on Inauguration Day, when Obama first took office in January 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent. Today, the unemployment rate is 7.8 percent. No progress there.

When Obama took office in January 2009, the price of gasoline was $1.84 per gallon. Today, it is $3.26. No progress there.

During Barack Obama’s first term, the federal debt increased by $5.8 trillion – which exceeded the combined debt accumulated under all U.S. presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton. No progress there.

The new federal debt accumulated in Obama's first term equaled approximately $50,521 for each of household in the country.

Those are the troubling details that will – eventually – get the nation's attention.

By the way, I thought the Inauguration ceremony was very nice. Even if the attractive singer with only one name faked singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.