Americans respond to Obama's executive actions by visiting gun stores and joining the NRA

As pro-gun groups organize opposition strategies to President Obama's Executive Actions, anti-gun groups that began Tuesday filled with confidence are asking a simple question: "what happened?"

The measures they cheered so lustily were immediately rejected by an American public that is still snapping up guns, ammo, magazines and large chunks of stocks in America's gun companies. Wednesday, the absolute rejection of those "reasonable measures" continued unabated.

I believe the repudiation is a reflection of the core values of the United States and a built-in resentment of anyone who makes it obvious they won't hesitate to force their position on others.

Whatever the reasoning, President Obama, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the heads of the anti-gun groups choose to ignore the simple fact that firearms are inextricably woven into the very fabric that forms our nation.

While scholars and the United States Supreme Court feel it necessary to debate the issue, those rounds first-time gun owners hesitatingly fired from brand-new guns on crowded public ranges this week prove that the people still resoundingly believe "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

And, as in Colonial times, they don't take any threat to take that right lightly.

Yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, I visited more gun stores. And I saw counter help skittering from customer to customer, attempting to answer questions that ranged from a befuddled "what gun should I buy" to technical performance questions from experienced shooters.

And again experienced shooters were welcoming newbies with offers of assistance instead of demonstrations of their "expertise." In Cabela's I watched a shooter open boxes of ammunition to actually show a new shooter the difference between "FMJ" and "hollow point" ammunition. In more than one case, shooters were taking advantage of a unique opportunity to recruit potential recreational shooters.

One close friend -whose shooting expertise eclipses mine- told of helping a grandfather and his three college-aged grandsons. The grandfather was keeping his longtime promise to buy them guns "while he still could."

"I started asking questions," my friend told me, and one wanted to hunt geese, the middle one wanted to shoot skeet, but the third was absolutely certain what he wanted: an AR-rifle."

When they finished, each man - including the grandfather - had dutifully filled out Form 4473s and completed their purchase of four guns-each.

For the record, grandpa footed all the costs. But each man knowingly complied with the requirement that he pass a NICS check in order to be the legal owner of his new guns.

According to my friend, their next scheduled stop was a range down the street where they were going to "buy memberships and sign up for NRA shooting classes".

Stories like this have been repeated thousands of times across the United States over the past 48 hours [since the actions were announced].

Each of them represents someone of voting age casting an immediate voteagainst further governmental restrictions on law-abiding citizens.

Yesterday, USA Today's editorial board characterized the President's executive actions as "much tamer than the bold restrictions he promised three years ago after the massacre of 20 first-graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn."

Instead, they grumbled, "the president settled for a modest list that includes mostly tweaks to regulations and promises to hire more people to enforce existing laws."

In his "opposing view" the Independent Firearms Owners Association's Richard pointed out that, while the President's proposals "sounded" good, they ignored a key fact: in 500,000 instances annually, criminals obtained guns by stealing them .

He also suggested Mr. Obama's had squandered a golden opportunity: the chance to "prove he really wasn't after the guns of millions of Americans who never misuse them."

Seems actions, executive or otherwise, still speak stronger than words.

Republished from The Outdoor Wire.