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Comment by Grakel | Hacker News Reader

This should be interesting. On one hand gun control vehemence continues to mount, and at the same time, and very under the radar of most media outlets, gun communities and interest have exploded in the last few years, largely through veteran led lifestyle social media channels.

There are more Americans passionate about firearms and who see them as central to their identity than ever before. And they are more socially connected.

When it's not just a revolver in a bedside table, but the AR-15, the custom glock, the pants, the overlanding vehicle, and the body armor that you and your camping buddies turned obstacle course team all have, we're talking about a decentralized militia that is very social, very consumer friendly, and very focused on their natural rights.

It's not rednecks with shotguns anymore, it's guys with skinny jeans who watch the world cup.

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FWIW I totally agree. Even my dad wants an AR-15 and he only ever had a gun when we were younger because he had a crazy guy stalking him. So many people have become recent gun owners and ammo hoarders that ammo is really, really hard to get right now. Can’t find target load for anything in my area.

More on topic: Montana just decided that you don’t need a permit for concealed carry.

> Montana just decided that you don’t need a permit for concealed carry.

FWIW, Montana's recent change means that there are now 20 states that allow concealed carry with no permit (though a couple of them limit it to residents only).

A week ago, the Texas House voted to allow handguns to be carried without a permit:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/15/texas-constitutional...

The Texas Senate is trying to see if there are enough votes to pass it:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/23/texas-constitutional...

What’s the deal with ammo manufacturers not being able to keep with demand? I’ve been hearing this for a long time. Or it was at least the case during the Obama admin.

Ammunition manufacturing tends to be very hard to scale: it takes large amounts of capital to invest in production and long periods of time to tune that production into a consistent product. The end result is that ammo production capacity is, for practical generalizations, completely fixed. Nobody produces more when prices are high, and only in rare scenarios would they stop production when prices are low.

The end result is usually strong swings of price for moderate changes in demand. And we're currently seeing demand levels that have never been seen before.

And couple that with riots last year, plus covid shutdowns wreaking havoc on the production lines. They're way way way backed up right now.

That's interesting, I know multiple people who reload so it can't be too hard.

It’s not difficult to start, but it requires intense attention to detail to do well (and safely). For instance - I usually a single-stage press instead of one of the fancier turret presses I have, because I like to weigh every ten rounds that come off to ensure consistency. Likewise, I spend the time necessary to choose a powder that fills more than 50% of the case volume so a double charge will overflow and be obvious. That’s even before I start load development, which is often specific to a single firearm, bullet, and even primer sometimes.

Speaking of primers... there are none out there for sale, and there haven’t been since very early 2020. Reloading equipment is easy to find, supplies not so much.

> Ammunition manufacturing tends to be very hard to scale: it takes large amounts of capital to invest in production

Also: how many people want to deal with lead (Pb) and all the toxicity that it entails?

If only one component of a cartridge/round (bullet, shell, propellent, primer) isn't available then you can't finish making it.

It was never just rednecks with shotguns. “Redneck” is a political slander as bad as “thug”. Whenever someone says it your alarm bells should go off that someone is trying to emotionally manipulate your political beliefs. “You’re not a science-denying, gun-toting, bible-thumping redneck are you?”

> “Redneck” is a political slander as bad as “thug”.

I enjoy the country lifestyle. And frankly, living somewhere peaceful and quiet with ample acreage and privacy, and little to no air, light or noise pollution is a lifestyle that is in increasingly short supply.

I take pride in rocking up to a small town with bits of hay on my dirtied clothes. I’d only live in a city if I absolutely had to.

I’ll happily accept the “redneck” badge. It’s up there with “geek” for me.

Same. Tho, i'm a mexican so its more "brown neck", but whateveer.

And lots of people would embrace the term “thug”. It’s great if you can embrace it and make it something positive. My point about “look twice when you hear it” still stands, most people that use redneck in political contexts don’t mean well.

> most people that use redneck in political contexts don’t mean well

I’d say that most people who use it to describe a group to which they themselves do not belong fall into that category.

> There are more Americans passionate about firearms and who see them as central to their identity than ever before.

[citation needed]

Household gun ownership went from 45% in 1980 down to 32% in 2016:

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/gun-ownership.html

Fewer people own guns nowadays generally, with only one-third only a single gun, about one-third owning 2-4, and one-third owning >5:

* https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-dem...

Seems that only a minority of American (households) own firearms, and the ones that do may simply make more noise than the (silent) majority that do not.

> It's not rednecks with shotguns anymore, it's guys with skinny jeans who watch the world cup.

The highest concentration of gun ownership is in the South and especially in rural counties (Table 4):

* https://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Trends%20in%20Gu...

I won't argue the data, which I don't have a study to refute, but I wish we could know the change since 2016.

Not surprising that gun ownership has gone down as its a major pain in the ass to get a gun in some states. In my state it's virtually impossible in the major metropolitan areas to own a gun without being politically connected. Similarly in the burbs and towns YMMV may vary depending on the local police chief.

I would love to own a gun, multiple guns, but some states make it incredibly difficult.

> Household gun ownership went from 45% in 1980 down to 32% in 2016:

And yet sales of new guns are up massively. Can you explain this discrepancy?

Perhaps a better interpretation is that the number of households who will admit owning a gun to a stranger who calls them on the phone went from 45% to 32%.

Someone's buying all those guns, dude. It sure isn't collectors who are buying millions of cheap Hi-Points and Kel-Tecs.

> And yet sales of new guns are up massively. Can you explain this discrepancy?

I do so in my post:

> Fewer people own guns nowadays generally, with only one-third only a single gun, about one-third owning 2-4, and one-third owning >5:

> * https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-dem...

> Seems that only a minority of American (households) own firearms, and the ones that do may simply make more noise than the (silent) majority that do not.

Ownership is more concentrated:

> But America’s gun super-owners, have amassed huge collections. Just 3% of American adults own a collective 133m firearms – half of America’s total gun stock. These owners have collections that range from eight to 140 guns, the 2015 study found. Their average collection: 17 guns each.

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/the-gun-numb...

> Some are collectors with elaborately curated selections of historical firearms, while others are ‘just accumulators’. They say it is surprisingly easy to get to 17

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/20/gun-ownershi...

> Fewer people own guns nowadays generally, with only one-third only a single gun, about one-third owning 2-4, and one-third owning >5:

Yeah, sorry, serious collectors aren't going out and buying junky Hi-Points and Kel-Tecs. They just aren't.

Which strikes you as more likely:

1) a serious gun collector buys multiple $200 hunks-of-junk.

2) people lie when a stranger calls and asks them about a politically charged topic?

> while others are ‘just accumulators’. They say it is surprisingly easy to get to 17

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/20/gun-ownershi...

> "Household gun ownership went from 45% in 1980 down to 32% in 2016"

Gallup seems to indicate that gun ownership in the United States rose back to 42% by 2020?

https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx

Polling gun owners about their weapons is extremely difficult, especially in the current age when one you can be ostracized for your beliefs. Random polling won't give you accurate results as many respondents will, fearing some sort of political trap, deny they own firearms at all, or simply decline to answer.

> guys with skinny jeans who watch the world cup

That description makes me think of Carnik Con, which is what I imagine if gun loving hipsters made a comedy show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwI9_Q07zxk

None of my gun toting friend would be caught dead wearing skinny jeans or watching soccer.

I know some skinny-jeans-wearing gun-toting women, as well as gun-toting guys who not only watch soccer but play it as well.

Meh, we’ve seen how organized and capable these folks are just a few months ago. They don’t inspire much fear in me, nor should they.

If you are referring to storming of the US Capitol a few months ago, I don't think that was by guys with skinny jeans who watch the world cup.

It turns out there is no corrupted underworld forming to overthrow the government.

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