...is shooting down my ability to buy guns or a least the guns I want as often as I would like. I would have thought that the law of supply and demand would have meant that the prices of guns would have dropped under President Trump as ammo has done. Yet, that seems not to be the case, in fact from what I have seen, while ammo prices have dropped markedly now that Obama is out of office and less folks seem to be panic buy (thus increasing availability of ammo) at least some gun prices have gone up.
Take for example a pistol I bought on Halloween 2016, just over 1.5 years ago. The price was $369.99 plus $9.99 for shipping or $379.98 total. I had been considering giving it to my son and transferring it to his FFL when I drove down there. Did not happen as NY State gun laws are so convoluted I am not certain if that would be legal or not. I would have shipped it but since UPS requires next da air for handguns, the cost of shipping and transfer fees making that idea ridiculous: shipping at approximately $107; FFL in NY $50; county PD to remove from license $10; FFL in AR $25 for a total of $192!
So, I thought of buying him one or at least giving him a new one minus what 'he' would have had to pay for shipping and transfer fees (cause I sure was not about to pay for that) of the one I already own. Anyway, the cost of a new Rock Island Armory 'Rock Standard FS - 45ACP M1911-A1 FS Tac - 51431' (their nomenclature for the pistol) from the exact same place where I got it, for $369.99 plus $9.99 shipping, is now selling it for $479.99 plus that same $9.99 shipping charge or a total of $489.98. Wow that is a $110 increase or about 22% more in price! While shipping fees seem not to have been affected by inflation - the gun price has skyrocketed. Of course, I realize that dealers change their prices now and then and that another dealer might have a much better price. So, I took a look over at https://gun.deals; more specifically at this page: https://gun.deals/search/apachesolr_search/Rock%20Island%20Armory%2051431.
The lowest price shown, at various gun dealers, was one for $419.99 but that was a bit deceiving. When I went to the site with that price, they were offered at that price but only if you bought two. If you bought just one, the price went up by $10 to $429.99. Now that did not seem all that bad until I saw that shipping to my area would be an additional $30.96 for a new total of $460.95. That's a $80.97 raise in price. Still better than the current price at the place I originally got mine but also still much more expensive than the one I got just over a year and a half ago.
While I cannot say, and do not believe for a moment, that this is happening with all guns - I have noticed a similar phenomenon with some other firearms as well. Prices just seem to be going up, up and away. That's got me wondering - is it just the few guns I have wanted lately that seem to be going up in price? I checked on the prices of another gun I had bought recently. The current lowest price I could find, using that same website, for a Marlin 1895 GBL was $599.90. I picked one up for $513.97 back in July 2017 - a mere 10 months ago. I don't know what you think but I think a price increase of $85.93 in less than a year, for a $514 item, is pretty friggin high being it is an almost 17% increase. My pension has certainly not increased anywhere nearly as much, in total, in the 6.5 years I have been retired.
Oh well, I suppose it is a good reason to keep working part time in retirement since you can rest assured I will not allow it to stop me from exercising my RKBA.
All the best,
Glenn B
Take for example a pistol I bought on Halloween 2016, just over 1.5 years ago. The price was $369.99 plus $9.99 for shipping or $379.98 total. I had been considering giving it to my son and transferring it to his FFL when I drove down there. Did not happen as NY State gun laws are so convoluted I am not certain if that would be legal or not. I would have shipped it but since UPS requires next da air for handguns, the cost of shipping and transfer fees making that idea ridiculous: shipping at approximately $107; FFL in NY $50; county PD to remove from license $10; FFL in AR $25 for a total of $192!
So, I thought of buying him one or at least giving him a new one minus what 'he' would have had to pay for shipping and transfer fees (cause I sure was not about to pay for that) of the one I already own. Anyway, the cost of a new Rock Island Armory 'Rock Standard FS - 45ACP M1911-A1 FS Tac - 51431' (their nomenclature for the pistol) from the exact same place where I got it, for $369.99 plus $9.99 shipping, is now selling it for $479.99 plus that same $9.99 shipping charge or a total of $489.98. Wow that is a $110 increase or about 22% more in price! While shipping fees seem not to have been affected by inflation - the gun price has skyrocketed. Of course, I realize that dealers change their prices now and then and that another dealer might have a much better price. So, I took a look over at https://gun.deals; more specifically at this page: https://gun.deals/search/apachesolr_search/Rock%20Island%20Armory%2051431.
The lowest price shown, at various gun dealers, was one for $419.99 but that was a bit deceiving. When I went to the site with that price, they were offered at that price but only if you bought two. If you bought just one, the price went up by $10 to $429.99. Now that did not seem all that bad until I saw that shipping to my area would be an additional $30.96 for a new total of $460.95. That's a $80.97 raise in price. Still better than the current price at the place I originally got mine but also still much more expensive than the one I got just over a year and a half ago.
While I cannot say, and do not believe for a moment, that this is happening with all guns - I have noticed a similar phenomenon with some other firearms as well. Prices just seem to be going up, up and away. That's got me wondering - is it just the few guns I have wanted lately that seem to be going up in price? I checked on the prices of another gun I had bought recently. The current lowest price I could find, using that same website, for a Marlin 1895 GBL was $599.90. I picked one up for $513.97 back in July 2017 - a mere 10 months ago. I don't know what you think but I think a price increase of $85.93 in less than a year, for a $514 item, is pretty friggin high being it is an almost 17% increase. My pension has certainly not increased anywhere nearly as much, in total, in the 6.5 years I have been retired.
Oh well, I suppose it is a good reason to keep working part time in retirement since you can rest assured I will not allow it to stop me from exercising my RKBA.
All the best,
Glenn B
