Gun Nut World in Woodstock

There’s no visible reaction to the Tucson shootings at the gun show in Woodstock, Virginia. Dealers report good profits and no one in Congress has yet questioned America’s liberal gun laws.

You can’t miss the Glocks. Four different models are featured atop the showcase surrounded by Walthers and Berettas. They’re secured with plastic bands to their respective boxes, which look like electric drill carriers.

Glocks displayed include models 17, 21, 22 and the 36, “Made in Austria,” easy to disassemble, reliable, no-frills, as stated on their tags. Jared Loughner caused a bloodbath in Tucson with a Glock semiautomatic. The extended 33-round magazine he used is on sale here as well.

Nearby, colorful stickers proclaim the gun-nut credo: “Fight Crime. Shoot Back.” Another standard motto is “Freedom wasn’t won with a registered gun.” If the rebels fighting the War of Independence against the British had registered their muskets first, they would never have won. The U.S. Constitution, which grants every American the right to carry a gun, is displayed on the table by old Ralph: “Listen, it’s worked well for us. We’re the only free country in the world,” the graying Vietnam war veteran says. Stricter controls? “Oh, God, the government can’t do that. That would be taking away our freedom.”*

Richard Miller, a gun dealer, puts on the Virginia Gun and Knife Show four times a year. The first one in January takes place in Woodstock — not the upstate New York Woodstock of the flower children, but Woodstock, Virginia, a sleepy village in the foothills of the Appalachians.

Nobody would have thought of calling the show off in the wake of the Tucson shootings that killed six and wounded fourteen others. In one corner of the corrugated iron shack hangs the obligatory stars and stripes; people shove steaming hotdogs across the counter. Near the entrance to the displays, the National Rifle Association, America’s powerful gun lobby, actively recruits new members offering to waive the $6 cost of admission to the show provided one joins the NRA.

“Business isn’t bad,” Bill says happily. He sits behind a counter belonging to a company called Historic Arms Corporation. Its sales are up five percent annually. A video recording playing nearby shows bombed-out buildings, the U.S. Army liberating Europe; in this case, a shot-up sign reveals it’s the German city of Aachen. “Look at this, a good old Thompson submachine gun, vintage 1928,” Bill says authoritatively, pointing to an aged example. “If you buy this today, you’ll be able to get twice as much for it in five years. Investment weapons: Thousands of times more profitable than any investment in gold.”*

A fully automatic Browning priced at $32,000 catches Bill’s eye. He expertly enters customer data into his laptop and waits for the results. The obligatory “background check.” If the customer has no criminal record or history of mental disturbance, nothing stands in the way of buying the gun. Those schizophrenics who, like Loughner, are not in any database can buy it also.

Business as usual in Woodstock, just as in the U.S. Congress. Senator Frank Lautenberg proposed legislation outlawing extended handgun magazines. “The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly. These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market,” he stated in a press release.

Such high-capacity magazines were outlawed by President Bill Clinton in 1994. The law expired in 2004, with no extension. This time, Senator Lautenberg is pretty much on his own. Fellow Democrat Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, himself a firearms fan, and President Obama want to shield themselves against attacks from the well-connected NRA that might cost them the votes of moderates in the next election.

Two years ago, things looked different. The gun lobby was afraid that the new guy in the White House might introduce stricter gun laws. Instant panic broke out, causing people to begin stockpiling arms and ammunition. Pistol cartridges that had sold for 25 cents apiece skyrocketed to $1.00 overnight. Now they’re back down to 23 cents, cheaper than they were during the George W. Bush era.

*Editor’s Note: Quotations, while accurately translated, could not be verified.