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What ultimately people see is a black scary gun and they're frightened by the black scary gun and they want to know why you would need a black scary gun," said John Rodabaugh, president of the Washington Arms Collectors. (AP Photo/File)

Firearm enthusiasts fear ban on 'black scary guns'

BY Brandi Kruse  on January 19, 2013 @ 3:40 pm (Updated: 5:45 am - 1/21/13 )

"They're trying to get their AR-15's, their 47's and all that. All the big guns," said a man standing in line outside the Puyallup Fair Grounds Saturday.

He was one of hundreds of people waiting to get inside a gun show hosted by the Washington Arms Collectors, a two-day event which brought in an estimated 10,000 attendees.

"They're scared that Obama's going to get rid of the second amendment," he said of show-goers.

Although non-members could attend, only registered WAC members were allowed to purchase firearms at the event. Those individuals have undergone necessary background checks, according to President John Rodabaugh.

Mike, who ran a booth selling specialty ammo and survival gear, said "panic" over the current gun control debate has led to a "buying frenzy."

"(Lawmakers) are going to use this opportunity, this tragedy, to push through their agenda," he said, speaking of the Dec. 14 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Rodabaugh said guns and gun owners have been unfairly targeted in the wake of the shooting.

"There's a lot of response to fear that the government is going to enact Draconian measures on law-abiding citizens who have done nothing wrong," he said.

The current debate over gun control has centered around a ban on certain assault-style weapons to help prevent tragedies like the Sandy Hook shooting and the massacre at an Aurora, Colo., movie theatre on July 20, 2012.

"Telling 80-million gun owners that they can't own this gun because it looks scarier than this gun isn't going to do that," he said. "What ultimately people see is a black scary gun and they're frightened by the black scary gun and they want to know why you would need a black scary gun."

The gun show kicked off while "Gun Appreciation Day" rallies were taking place around the country, including one in Olympia that brought in an estimated 2,000 participants. Some supporters brought copies of the constitution to show their support for the Second Amendment.

Brandi Kruse, KIRO Radio Reporter
Brandi Kruse is a reporter for KIRO Radio who is as spontaneous and adventurous in her free time as she is on the job. Brandi arrived at KIRO Radio in March 2011 and has already collected three regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting.
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Comments (134)


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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    I did know that Obama handily won TWO elections in a row,what do you suppose that means?
    January 20, 2013 6:33 pm
    Both of those were Landslides. Right M-101?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    haha
    January 20, 2013 9:37 pm
    Yep your side was taken to the Wood Shed Twice.From your postings since the election that FACT has yet to sink into your thick skull.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Don't forget McKenna and Rossi times three
    January 21, 2013 9:16 am
    A Ha Ha endorsement is the kiss of death.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • C"mon Man wrote...
    Do the Puyallup
    January 20, 2013 10:52 pm
    Two types of gun owners. The legal gun owner will walk into a business,pay for his or her merchandise and leave quietly, the stolen gun owner will enter, the person who cannot obtain a gun legally will point it at you,threaten you,rob you and change your life forever.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hpitantso wrote...
    NRA you mean?
    January 20, 2013 11:17 pm
    Rational "of course the treason media has to use loaded words"
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    hpitantso
    January 21, 2013 5:19 pm
    they don't "have" to, the often do. Not that you care about truth.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    I did know that Obama handily won TWO elections in a row,what do you suppose that means? -
    January 21, 2013 5:30 am
    short story - republicans are losers!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • EskieMom wrote...
    oooooo those big black scary guns
    January 21, 2013 8:35 am
    Good grief, the gun lovers come up with the most stupid reasons they think the rest of us don't want guns around. Heard something the other day about bicycles. Kids die from falling off bicycles, so should we ban bicycles? Let's see now, has anyone ever gone into a school or theater and killed many people with a bicycle????? Give me a break!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @EskieMom
    January 21, 2013 10:01 am
    The reasons for wanting a gun ban in the US are numerous: 1. You actually enjoy the false sense of security you get from the fools you that elect taking the easy route via the tangible hardware, rather than dealing with the more abstract actual core of a problem. - or - 2. You're willing to cherry-pick the bill of rights because of your personal disdain for firearms ("guns are icky"). - or - 3. You believe the bill of rights to be obsolete, possibly because any virtues espoused by guys who owned slaves are to be summarily dismissed. - or - 4. You're a woman without a man to protect you and have resigned yourself to the belief that only the state can do the job. - or - 5. You're one of these meterosexuals that can't and don't want to do much of anything on your own, including pick up a hog leg and take care of your world. By the way, you do understand that no one wants to ban bicycles and the analogy is used to demonstrate the folly of banning things?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    You mean you've not heard of that school bicycling?
    January 21, 2013 11:40 am
    Or the theater rocking?

    And then there was that mall treeing.

    I saw a clip of this moron seriously claiming that slaves would not have been slaves if their owners had given them guns.

    Yeah, that would have happened.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Lawn
    January 21, 2013 12:00 pm
    If the Nigerians and Ghanans of the 1600's had Bushmasters, you bet your bum that they wouldn't have been slaves.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    Disclaimer:
    January 21, 2013 12:16 pm
    The use of the name "Bushmasters" was not intended as any sort of African slavery pun and blame for seeing it in that light lays solely at the feet of the reader.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    Cigarillo
    January 21, 2013 5:21 pm
    If the Nigerians and Ghanans of the 1600's had Bushmasters, you bet your bum that they wouldn't have been slaves.

    No, but you could bet the tribes neighboring them would have been. A very significant number of slaves were sold into slavery by other africans.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Rational
    January 21, 2013 9:11 pm
    Good point....unless the Russians or the Chinese armed their neighbors.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monroemad wrote...
    GUN SHOWS ROCK!
    January 21, 2013 1:05 pm
    I have been to many gun shows and have never seen one where background checks were not done. Where did Obama ever come up with this nonsense? Tell a lie often enough and it becomes truth?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Monroe
    January 21, 2013 1:28 pm
    to add to that, many of the table holders at Puyallup are dealers, bound by the same rules at the shows as they are in their place of business. Unfortunately, the self-appointed do-gooders in DC will add restrictions that will override state law and it will take a few years for the supreme court to iron it out - unless Barry can get hisself a few more of said do-gooders on the bench.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • BigBlackGuy wrote...
    B.S
    January 21, 2013 1:30 pm
    All the wicked, racist, militias, present and former military clowns are stock piling weapons for the eventual race war that will be a modern day Armageddon. But little do the wicked know there's more righteous people of color on this planet than their are racist right wing wackos with high powered guns. And that's probably when the world will end.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @BigBlackGuy
    January 21, 2013 2:37 pm
    This big black guy walks into a bar with an amazing beautiful Amazon blue parrot on his shoulder. Everybody is awestruck by the sight when the bartender asks, "Man, that's beautiful - where did you get it?" "Africa," the parrot says. But seriously, how do you hope to rule the roost when we've successfully got you sucking crack pipes, ditching your offspring, being enslaved by parrots and pretty much killing one another for us? Do you have enough jam-prone .25 autos to overcome your redneck neighbor's mini-gun? What's the play Tyrone?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    will be a modern day Armageddon
    January 21, 2013 5:25 pm
    Apparently you're not aware, but the Biblical reference to Armageddon is a prophetic reference....it hasn't taken place yet.

    But little do the wicked know there's more righteous people of color on this planet than their are racist right wing wackos with high powered guns

    I agree entirely...there aren't many racists on the right...they are mostly on the left end of the political spectrum...but they already have you where they want you...ignorant of their racism and doing their bidding.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Stanwooddave wrote...
    Brandi Kruse & the Camel Smoking Edward R. Murrow
    January 22, 2013 12:11 am
    Edward R. Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) Edward R. Murrow (journalist) died of lung cancer. ... confessing, “I doubt very much that I could spend a half hour without a cigarette with any comfort or ease.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow A chain smoker throughout his [Edward R. Murrow] life, Murrow was almost never seen without his trademark Camel cigarette. It was reported that he smoked anywhere from sixty to sixty-five cigarettes a day, equivalent to roughly three packs a day. So I guess because he [Edward R. Murrow] was a lib, the progressives just hide that irrefutable fact. So the moral of this is what, if a lib did it, it didn't happen is a guess. So what's next awards from the KKK (democrat's in white robes) her reporting?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Stanwooddave wrote...
    Brandi Kruse & the Camel Smoking Edward R. Murrow
    January 22, 2013 12:14 am
    Edward R. Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) Edward R. Murrow (journalist) died of lung cancer. ... confessing, “I doubt very much that I could spend a half hour without a cigarette with any comfort or ease.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow A chain smoker throughout his [Edward R. Murrow] life, Murrow was almost never seen without his trademark Camel cigarette. It was reported that he smoked anywhere from sixty to sixty-five cigarettes a day, equivalent to roughly three packs a day. So I guess because he [Edward R. Murrow] was a lib, the progressives just hide that irrefutable fact. So the moral of this is what, if a lib did it, it didn't happen is a guess. So what's next awards from the KKK (democrat's in white robes) her reporting?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    A Ban is just a sales cap!
    January 22, 2013 12:34 am
    The Democrats love boycotts , moratoriums and bans.Here like the Brady Bill the "Ban" is a sales cap , not a confiscation. But wait soon they will want you to "register" your guns so they can keep track of who is selling to who and if the "proper" background check has been performed.Then some snot nosed 16 year old raised by limp wristed , lily livered baby boomer parents shoots up a school "again" they will move to confiscate and collect your evil little semi automatic guns. Never mind the real problem is the rotten predominate culture(Democrats).
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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