Earlier today, Jazz noted a plaintive plea from liberal columnist Bill Scher, wondering why Democrats aren’t talking more about gun control in this election cycle. Perhaps it’s because they’re too busy buying guns and ammunition. The Star Tribune reported earlier today that the US finds itself short of both firearms and ammunition, thanks to a massive spike in demand. Sales are about to break the election-year record set in 2016, in fact. The biggest segment for that demand comes from first-time purchasers, which leads to an interesting question: Are first-time firearms buyers more likely to be Republicans, or Democrats? Not every Republican owns a firearm, of course, so some might still be first-timers in the market, but many of those ended up buying a firearm during the Obama administration in response to gun-control proposals. The phenomenon became a kind of protest gesture, which meant that Democrats who supported Barack Obama were not likely to be a significant part of those sales. And by the way, Minnesota isn’t exactly a GOP redoubt, and yet background checks in August jumped 59% over the same month a year earlier. Those aren’t exclusively first-timers, of course, and not exclusively Democrats. However, the demand does appear to be coming from those who worry about defunding and abolishing the police, which would tend to mean those who live in the Twin Cities and its suburban environs — normally a progressive bastion.  [full article]