Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.
At the top of the third hour, Carmichael revealed data showing a gigantic increase in gun sales in the United States, especially among first-time gun owners. He likened the surge to people who live in major metropolitan areas that are not confident they will be protected by police.
Leahy: Crom, I’m looking at some very interesting data that you’ve pointed out to me about gun sales in the United States.
Carmichael: Yes. When Americans get nervous about their safety sometimes they get nervous about changes in the Second Amendment and gun sales tend to go up. In this case, gun sales are going up at the fastest rate ever. Between March and June that is a three to four-month period depending on when you start.
There were 7.8 million background checks for gun purchases that were investigations requested. In June background checks for firearms went up 136 percent. That is almost as fast as the murder rate in the big cities.
Leahy: Almost.
Carmichael: Almost. Not quite. As fast as the murder rates. And by the way for those that are the uninitiated, those two statistics are related. And then when you see the video of that St. Louis couple where they called the police, they called 911. The police did not come on purpose.
And this is the part that bothers them the most, is that the police chose not to come. Now we don’t know why but they did not come. And it went on for a very very long time. It’s not like these people are 50 miles out from downtown. They are right in a suburb, not even a suburb they are in the city.
Leahy: A neighborhood within the city of St. Louis.
Carmichael: Yes. Yes.
Leahy: A gated neighborhood within the city.
Carmicheal: The police were minutes away and they chose not to come.
Leahy: Several hundred violent protesters broke into this gated compound.
Carmichael: Yes. Broke through the gate.
Leahy: Broke through the gate. Stepped onto their property.
Carmichael: Yes. But I don’t care about the stepping it was the yelling at them saying we are going to kill you and we are going to burn your house. Then the dog started to bark and they said we’re going to shoot your dog too. That reminds me of the yellow brick road. And we’re going to shoot your little dog too.
Leahy: And your little dog too.
Carmichael: Americans are responding. And here’s what’s fascinating. The percentage of gun sales to first-time gun buyers is 40 percent. So 40 percent of this giant increase are the people who for the first time believe that they need to protect themselves.
This is a really good quote by a gun buyer named Greg Gedski 57 years old said he was applying for a permit because he’s afraid the police in his area aren’t able to protect him. “I don’t want to ever shoot anybody ever, he said. But if I had to duck and shoot back in self-defense at least I’d have a chance.”
Now that’s just a regular guy. And the left, by the way, does not care. Greg Gedski is probably not a government employee who pays union dues. And therefore the Left does not care about his life any more than they care about Roger Stone’s life.
Leahy: Some lives don’t matter according to them.
Carmichael: That’s exactly right. And in fact, the lives that they say matter actually Black Lives Don’t Matter to them either.
Leahy: Well, there’s a certain kind of Black life that matters. It’s a Black life killed by a White policeman. That life matters. But a Black person killed by a Black person doesn’t matter. A Black person killed by abortion doesn’t even matter.
Carmichael: But a White activist life matters to the Black Lives Matter group.
Leahy: We do have that audio clip of the protesters outside the house of the people in St. Louis who had to brandish guns to protect themselves legally.
(Wizard of Oz clip plays)
(Laughter)
Carmichael: That’s pretty good. I didn’t know that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was out on the sidewalk.
Leahy: She’s in the hospital. We wish her well.
Carmichael: Yes. Yes. But anyway, going back to the gun issue. In Georgia where they had all the problems in Georgia background checks for guns went up 300 percent. They tripled last month over last year. In Oklahoma, in New York, in Illinois, and in Minnesota.
Now, what do these other than Oklahoma all though I’m not sure what happened in Oklahoma. But in Illinois, Minnesota, and New York the violence was just incredible. I’m not blaming the police. If I were a police person I don’t believe I would show up either because until I’m told what it is I’m supposed to do…
Leahy: And if you do what you’ve been trained to do you will be prosecuted.
Carmichael: Oh yes.
Leahy: That’s the problem.
Carmichael: You are putting your life at risk in two directions. One is you could be shot by these hoodlums or the other is you can arrest a hoodlum and be put in prison for the rest of your life.
Leahy: Acting for doing your job.
Carmichael: For doing what you were trained to do.
Leahy: I see what’s going to come here. In my view Crom, there is going to have to be a movement to support the police and the rule of law. It has to happen on our side. Otherwise, the big cities are going to descend into violence.
Carmichael: They are going to?
Leahy: Further then they are right now. Chaotic violence otherwise.
Carmichael: If you live in the inner cities in these towns you are already there. But here’s what’s so fascinating. Here’s a little paragraph in the story about the increase in gun sales. That worries political leaders who are struggling to quell a recent surge in violence in cities around the US. Murders in Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York are on pace to see their highest levels in decades. And the politicians are worried about the gun violence.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.Â
