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Local gun sales mirror national trend

During my presentation today to the journalism faculty at Iowa State University a colleague suggested that I look at data related to gun sales in Alabama. I found this Sunday, November 09, 2008 article from the Press-Register in Alabama:

Local gun sales mirror national trend, by Jeff Dute, Outdoors Editor, al.com.

Possibility of new gun-control measures under Barack Obama's administration has many local hunters and shooters buying guns and stockpiling ammunition --

A couple of outdoors equipment retailers in Mobile and Baldwin counties say sales of assault guns and ammunition at their stores have increased dramatically in the last month with the ascension of Democrat Barack Obama to the presidency.

The main issue, it seems, is not concern about a Black uprising, but rather a concern about gun laws that the Obama Administration might try to enact in the coming months and years.

see related story:

Fears of Democrat crackdown lead to gun sales boom: "One Georgia gun shop advertised an 'Obama sale' on an outdoor sign, but the owner took it down after people complained that the shop appeared to be issuing a call to violence against the country's first black leader."

Crossing the Iowa border

On our way to Ames, Iowa today we spotted this on the back of a UPS truck:



Here's another reference to anti-Obama sentiment expressed beyond the borders of Alabama: "Mayor in Idaho apologizes for kids' 'assassinate Obama' chant"

I guess these illustrate that Alabama and its surrounding states aren't the only place where Obama may have trouble winning over contrarians.

Race and the (Alabama) American experience: a personal journey post-Nov. 4, 2008

1. For South, a Waning Hold on National Politics [New York Times, Nov. 10, 2008]

Less than a third of Southern whites voted for Mr. Obama, compared with 43 percent of whites nationally. By leaving the mainstream so decisively, the Deep South and Appalachia will no longer be able to dictate that winning Democrats have Southern accents or adhere to conservative policies on issues like welfare and tax policy.

Read "Letters to the Editor" regarding this article at:

nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/l17south.html?_r=1

2. Alabama's Exit Polls [CNN]

3. Alabama Primary Results [New York Times]

Mr. Obama decisively won the Democratic primary in Alabama, where African-American voters made up about half of the turnout.

4. Obama Cleans Up with Alabama Newspaper Endorsements [leftinalabama.com]

5. Vote 2008: Alabama newspapers endorse Obama by 2-1 margin [wadeonbirmingham.com]

Of the eight nine 10 newspapers that have published endorsements in the presidential race, five six support Obama, two three support McCain, and one endorsed neither. Before the cries of “liberal media bias” ring out, keep in mind that most of these same papers endorsed Republican George W. Bush in the previous two elections.

6. Map of Newspaper Endorsements in the 2008 US Presidential Election

Endorsing Sen. Obama (endorsed Bush in 2004): 58 papers, 4.8M total circulation

Endorsing Sen. McCain (and endorsed Kerry in 2004): 11 papers, 0.5M total circulation

7. It's Hard Being Blue in Alabama [Nancy Blackmon, Andalusia Star-News]

These days I feel a little like Kermit, except the lyrics to my song are, “It’s not easy being blue.” I’m experiencing what it feels like to be a political color that is different from the majority of folks around me, and sometimes it is, as Kermit sang, not easy.

...After listening to all the words of the candidates — not just the sound bites played over and over in ads and newscasts — I decided which message fit with my own values, made me feel the most promise for the future. Having done that, nothing I hear from the red side is changing my mind. And I know nothing I say is going to change a committed red voter to blue.

So maybe at this point, letting it be and respecting each other’s views and choices is the best thing to do.

8. A.C.L.U. Sues Alabama on Ballot Access [New York Times, July 22, 2008]

Like virtually all states, Alabama restricts the rights of many felons to vote, but in Monday’s suit the group contends the state is going beyond even its own laws. People convicted of nonviolent offenses like income tax evasion or forgery are at risk of being turned away by voter registrars in Alabama, the A.C.L.U. says.

Alabama does not bar all felons from voting, only those convicted of crimes involving “moral turpitude.” In 2003, the civil liberties group says, the State Legislature clearly defined what those crimes are: murder, rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, incest, sexual torture and nine other crimes mainly involving pornography and abuses against children.

At issue in the lawsuit is not the list enacted in law but an expanded “moral turpitude” list developed by the state’s attorney general, Troy King, in 2005. That list includes about a dozen additional offenses, most of them nonviolent, and several including the sale of marijuana.