A Gun under the Tree, Becoming a Trend

One of the hottest retail gifts for this year may be a new gun. Snohomish, Washington, like many small towns in America felt that many of their voices went unheard on November 4th and now they are worried about eroding constitutional rights.

Snohomish is just like any other small community across the nation in that they believe in God, country and strong family values. One other ideal that seems to be emerging in Snohomish is the right to "keep and bear arms". There are several gun stores in Snohomish County; we talked with one that is not a typical stop for guns. McDaniel's Do-it-Best Hardware store is much more, hardware, garden and sporting goods. Sporting goods is the section of the store that handles fishing and hunting supplies.

The national buying trend on guns is showing a rush on military style weapons and handguns. There are many reasons for this latest upswing in sales, one is that most Americans think that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms will be greatly restricted when the new administration takes over.

Another reason verbalized by a resent gun show attendee was the fear of the repercussions of a bad economy. "I am afraid of what may happen if people get desperate or we are attacked again in the midst of joblessness. If people have reduced resources and then we have a national tragedy where a person would have to be independent for more than a week, I think some people won't be ready and will resort to desperate measures" said Chris McDonald of East Snohomish.

McDaniel's in Snohomish has also seen a dramatic increase in gun sales. They don't carry handguns because it would make them a target for break-ins, but overall gun sales are up. "We saw the same kind of thing when Clinton was elected" said Bob McDaniel. Rightfully so it turns out because Clinton did enact more laws to restrict gun ownership.

Bob McDaniel is the founder of McDaniel's Do-it-Best Hardware in Snohomish. He has turned over the operation to his son Brad. He hopes that the business and family traditions will continue to his grandchildren. The McDaniel's are a well respected family in Snohomish and considered pillars of the community.

By Todd Elvig Contributing Writer