From TPM Reader JS …
I’ve lived in a small rural town close to Sandy Hook for about 25 years. (We moved up from NYC, in the late ’80s, for family and job reasons.)Although I’m a liberal Democrat, my circle of friends and acquaintances includes some right-wingers who take it as an article of faith that we’re approaching an economic and societal collapse. I have a pretty good window into that world.
This isn’t just people up here; it’s just that up here, it’s very easy to get ahold of and “collect” (stockpile) firearms. One of my friends, an M&A attorney who is an avid hunter, told me in dark tones, “You’d be amazed at what people up here are stockpiling.”I’ll bet the success of Cabela’s in East Hartford (it opened in 10/07 - an absolutely prescient marketing move) has been in no small part due to sales of guns and ammo (and cammo. Don’t forget the cammo).
It’s bizarre, and it’s the same old, white, anti-tax, empathy-deficient crowd who’re sure the brown socialists are taking over the country, and that’s what they’re preparing for. I told my friend I don’t care if people spend their last dime stockpiling crap, just don’t start whining when the school budget comes up. But now, I do care.
