MORE GUNS

Sheesh, Virginia. The Free Lance-Star reports today that in the wake of the Newtown massacre, Virginia State Police have processed a record amount of background checks for the purchase of guns:

According to state police records, the agency processed 4,166 background checks to purchase guns on Saturday–the highest volume of transactions in one day since the program began in 1989. It was a 42 percent increase over the number of checks on the same Saturday (Dec. 17) in 2011.

On Friday, the day of the Connecticut shootings, the state police processed 2,770 background-check transactions, a 26 percent increase over the same Friday in 2011. Background checks on Sunday were 43 percent higher than the same Sunday a year ago.

The number of background checks doesn’t necessarily equate with the number of guns, though: a buyer could be purchasing multiple guns at once, for example. (Virginia repealed its one-handgun-per-month law earlier this year, though the limits never applied to rifles or shotguns.)

Generally speaking, gun sales and NRA memberships have been up during President Obama’s tenure, product of the very real fear that part of his socialist revolution involves disarming the nation’s well-trained and freedom-protecting militias.

According to Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Virginians are buying up guns in droves because of concerns of gun control measures to come. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Van Cleave told the newspaper, adding that he believes that more teachers should be allowed to carry guns in the classroom. (Gov. Bob McDonnell floated that idea yesterday.)

Obviously, the solution isn’t more gun control. If we want Virginians to stop buying up weapons like they’re being sent to war, maybe President Obama should just appear on national TV with an assault weapon slung over his shoulder and talk about how guns are the coolest. That way, the commonwealth’s contrarian streak will have residents dumping guns in droves.