It seems that when a person goes on a shooting rampage, it is very common for the weapon(s) in question to become a best seller for a little while.
Is this true? And if so, exactly who thinks, after seeing such a tragedy, thinks it’s a great time to go get that specific model? What kind of reasoning is happening here? Are these people thinking, “Holy crap, that dude just capped 20 people with a Glock! I gotta get me one of those right effing now!”?
I could understand gun sales going up over fears of new laws/bans, but wouldn’t that increase sales over a wide range of weapons?
I think its more of the fear of that make/model being targeted by a ban. Why anyone would buy a Glock is beyond me(1911 fanboy) but hey if they want to spend their money on it let them.
subliminal marketing, unintentional in this case.
The brand and model name are mentioned so much in the media in the immediate aftermath, people tend to remember it and not make the connection where that memory comes from when they are confronted with a wide array of options in a store.
So they pick out the thing that comes to mind…
Of course if the weapon had jammed or otherwise seriously malfunctioned, and that had been mentioned explicitly and repeatedly in the same sentence, it would almost certainly have the reverse effect, people’d have a subliminal image created of that particular weapon being unreliable, best buy anything but that one.
What sadly also happens is that owners of an item used in an attack tend to for some time afterwards get singled out for harassment or worse.
When last year there was a madman driving a black Suzuki car through a crowd in an attempt to use it to kill the queen, failing in his objective but kiling and seriously wounding dozens in the process, owners of black Suzuki cars nationwide (and sometimes other small black cars) faced vandalism of their vehicles, roadrage, verbal tirades, etc. for months afterwards (even though the perp died on the scene, on national television).
My first thought was that they might fear that the item in question could become banned or at least unavailable for some time, but people are smarter than that, right?
Right?
Oh…
Well, maybe JTW’s theory is better.
What better proof is there of an effective weapon than real world testing. [/morbidity]
If you all don’t mind, I’m gonna go with JTW’s theory, it’s the one that leaves more of my faith in humanity intact.
As it happened, I picked up a Glock 19 a couple days ago. Wife’s got one coming too.
Has nothing to do with the Arizona shooting, just coincidental that the 10-day waiting period expired and I picked it up then.
And I’m going to say JTW’s an optimist, Big Billy seems to have it right in my view.
I’m with Mollbot on this one. Assuming that this is even true, I think that people rush out and buy that item because they fear it will be banned.
On the other hand consider the source. This article was from Bloomberg.com, Part of Bloomberg L.P. founded by Michael Bloomberg who is a huge anti-gun activist and founder of mayors against illegal guns.
You’d think that the fact the congresscritter lived despite being shot in the head would prove beyond any doubt that the 9mm is an underpowered weapon and thus not worth owning.